Lebanon army begins taking over southern ‘pilot zones’: US

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, adding that Washington would keep working with both sides “to implement the framework to a successful conclusion.”

The framework, signed by Lebanon, Israel and the United States on June 26 after several rounds of direct negotiations, 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 before it is extended to other areas.

Hezbollah has rejected the framework, with the Iran-backed group insisting 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.

A Lebanese military source told AFP that troops had begun intensifying patrols in several villages adjacent to areas occupied by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, including Froun.

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 President Donald Trump in Washington on July 21. AFP