Lebanon army begins taking over southern ‘pilot zones’: US
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Lebanese army soldiers inspecting the site of an explosion that targeted their vehicle in the southern Lebanese area of Al-Mansouri, near Tyre, on July 18.
PHOTO: AFP
- The Lebanese army began securing three southern villages as part of a pilot project under the US-backed Trilateral Framework following Israeli-Lebanese talks.
- The framework aims for phased Israeli withdrawal and Lebanese forces clearing Hezbollah weapons, but Hezbollah rejects the plan and its implementation remains uncertain.
- The agreement has no set timetable for Israeli withdrawal; Israel insists on maintaining a security zone while tensions and occasional strikes continue near the border.
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WASHINGTON – The Lebanese army began taking charge of security in three southern villages on July 20, the US said, as a deal to secure an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah faced its first test on the ground.
The US State Department said operations had started in “pilot zones” in Froun, Srifa and Zawtar al-Gharbiya “in accordance with the trilateral framework and under the auspices of the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon”.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott described the step as a direct outcome of talks held between Israeli and Lebanese delegations in Rome last week.
The framework, signed by Lebanon, Israel and the US on June 26, envisions a phased Israeli pullback from positions in south Lebanon.
In exchange, the Lebanese Armed Forces are to assume sole security control of vacated areas and certify that they have been cleared of Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure.
The pilot zones are intended to trial the approach in a handful of villages straddling the Litani River.
“It is an opportunity for the Lebanese state to begin to reassert real control in areas historically dominated by Hezbollah,” a US official said.
“Any attempt by Hezbollah to derail, infiltrate or re-arm in these zones would seriously harm the prospects for reconstruction and peace.”
Hezbollah has rejected the framework, with the Iran-backed group insisting that any arrangement in Lebanon be linked to wider negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
It has not said whether it will resist implementation in the designated areas.
The agreement does not set a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal.
Israeli officials have also vowed that their forces will remain in a “security zone” 10km deep along the frontier for as long as Hezbollah remains armed.
Lebanon and Israel, which have no formal relations, started negotiations after Iran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the broader Middle East war by attacking Israel in March.
Lebanon’s military said last week that troops had begun intensifying patrols in several villages adjacent to areas occupied by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, including Froun.
Israeli forces are, however, present on the outskirts of Zawtar al-Gharbiya.
The Lebanese military said on July 20 that troops “continue to carry out their missions in the southern regions, including the towns of Froun and Srifa”.
“In parallel, coordination is under way with the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon to begin deployment in the town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya”, awaiting Israel’s withdrawal from there, the army added.
The framework agreement was reached following a fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Israel still launches occasional strikes in southern Lebanon and carries out detonations in villages it occupies near the border.
The talks in Rome came ahead of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s planned meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington on July 21. AFP
