US and Lebanese delegations meet in Beirut on pilot zones for southern Lebanon withdrawal

Military delegations from the United States and Lebanon have met in Beirut to discuss how to implement the first phase of a US-brokered framework linked to an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. The talks are focused on establishing a mechanism for the first of two so-called pilot zones under the agreement. Lebanese sources said the meeting took place on Saturday, following reports that a US delegation had arrived in the capital for the discussions.

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US ambassador Michel Issa told President Joseph Aoun on Thursday that the delegation was coming to determine the mechanism for carrying out the deal. The framework agreement was reached on 26 June and is intended to allow Israel to gradually withdraw from areas of southern Lebanon where it has deployed troops in fighting with Hezbollah. Under the reported arrangement, the Lebanese military would take full control of two small areas described as pilot zones.

The agreement has not set a timetable for the withdrawal, and Hezbollah has rejected it. Israeli officials have said their forces will remain in a security zone 10km deep as long as Hezbollah remains armed. That position leaves the practical implementation of the deal unresolved, even as the talks in Beirut seek to define the first steps on the ground.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of a wider conflict that has already caused major displacement in Lebanon. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said on Saturday that more than 732,000 people had returned home, up from 640,000 a week earlier, but about 430,000 remained displaced. The agency said the war had displaced more than one million people in Lebanon.

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That scale of displacement gives added weight to any arrangement that could reduce fighting or change control along the border. There were also fresh reports of continued violence in the south on Saturday. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said several raids were carried out in the south, including in residential neighbourhoods in al-Mansouri in Tyre district, where seven people were injured.

The report also said Israeli forces used three tanks and several bulldozers in the area, underscoring that military activity has continued despite the ceasefire framework referenced in the talks. What remains unclear is how quickly the pilot zones can be activated, what authority the Lebanese military will have in practice, and whether the parties can agree on a withdrawal sequence acceptable to all sides. The framework's lack of a timetable, together with Hezbollah's rejection and Israel's insistence on a security zone, means the talks are only an initial step.

The next developments to watch are whether the delegations produce a formal mechanism and whether conditions on the ground in southern Lebanon change as a result.

#Lebanon #Beirut #UnitedStates #Israel #Hezbollah

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