Probability
How the price has moved
Analysis
Context
What moves the probability
Status of the November 2024 ceasefire
The ceasefire's original 60-day withdrawal clause was never fully honored, and Israel has held positions in southern Lebanon well past that point. This history is the single biggest reason the market prices a full withdrawal as unlikely; a deadline has already been missed once.
Hezbollah disarmament progress
Israel has tied continued ground presence to the pace of Hezbollah's disarmament under Lebanese Armed Forces and international monitoring. Visible progress on disarmament would remove Israel's stated justification for staying and could push the probability up; continued stalemate keeps it low.
US diplomatic involvement
Washington brokered the original ceasefire and remains the most likely actor to negotiate a firm new withdrawal timeline. A concrete US-brokered announcement before the deadline would be the clearest upward driver; without one, the status quo favors No.
Cross-border strikes and incidents
Israel has continued strikes inside Lebanon that it attributes to Hezbollah activity, and any major escalation would make a near-term withdrawal even less likely. A serious flare-up would push the price further down; a sustained lull could support gradual movement upward.
Time remaining to the deadline
With the resolution date set for 31 December 2026, the window for a full withdrawal to both occur and be confirmed is shrinking as the year progresses. The later a withdrawal would need to start to still complete in time, the more it weighs against Yes.
The case for
- The Lebanese Armed Forces complete a verified deployment across the south that satisfies Israeli security concerns, and Israel withdraws its remaining hilltop positions before 31 December 2026.
- A new US or French-brokered agreement sets a binding, near-term withdrawal date that Israel then follows through on, with the Israeli government issuing an official statement confirming the pullout.
- Hezbollah's disarmament advances enough, under international monitoring, that Israel's stated justification for staying no longer applies.
- Reporting from major international outlets corroborates a full withdrawal even if Israeli government statements are initially unclear, which is enough for Yes under the settlement rules.
The case against
- Israel has already missed the original 60-day withdrawal deadline from the November 2024 ceasefire and has held its positions for well over a year since, with no announced end date.
- Israeli officials have described the remaining positions as strategic and tied to Hezbollah's continued armament, a condition that has not changed as of mid-2026.
- Continued Israeli strikes inside Lebanon suggest an active security posture rather than a build-down, making a full pullout within the remaining months of 2026 harder to reconcile with current operations.
- The settlement bar is strict: a stated intention or planned withdrawal does not count, only a completed one confirmed by government statement or credible reporting before the deadline.
