US and Lebanese military delegations met in Beirut on Saturday to discuss how to carry out the first phase of a US-brokered framework meant to lead to an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Lebanese sources familiar with the talks said the discussions focused on creating a mechanism for the first of two small areas described in the agreement as “pilot zones.” Under the plan reached on June 26, the Lebanese military would take control of those areas as Israeli forces pull back from positions taken during fighting with Hezbollah.
US Ambassador Michel Issa told Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday that the American delegation was coming to “determine the mechanism” for putting the agreement into effect.
The framework has not settled the hardest question: when Israeli forces would leave. Israeli officials have said troops will remain in a 10km-deep security zone for as long as Hezbollah stays armed. Hezbollah has rejected the agreement and opposes direct talks between Lebanon and Israel.
The diplomacy came as Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported fresh Israeli attacks in the south on Saturday. The agency said seven people were injured in raids on residential neighbourhoods in al-Mansouri, in the Tyre district.
The agency also reported that Israeli forces used three tanks and several bulldozers to move into the eastern edge of Beit Yahoun. In Houla, it said Israeli forces set fires that damaged homes and olive trees, while homes were also blown up in Nabatieh district.
The fighting that began in early March after US and Israeli attacks on Iran has displaced more than a million people in Lebanon, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. OCHA said more than 732,000 people have returned home, while about 430,000 remain displaced.
The next round of Lebanon-Israel talks is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Rome. Lebanon has conditioned its participation on Israel withdrawing from the two pilot zones.
