A new round of direct talks between Lebanon and Israel begins today (Tuesday) in Rome, against the backdrop of renewed escalation between Iran and the United States. The talks come after Lebanon’s presidency announced last night that its delegation received instructions “to demand the immediate start of Israeli forces’ withdrawal from both pilot areas before any further discussion.”
1+Under the agreement signed at the end of June between Lebanon and Israel, Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw from two pilot zones in southern Lebanon, which the Lebanese army would then enter. Before the talks, an American military delegation held meetings with Lebanese army command to discuss mechanisms for implementing the Israeli withdrawal from one or two pilot zones.
Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, who is also leading the Israeli delegation, gave an interview this week in the U.S. about the agreement and said the IDF will withdraw from the zones once Hezbollah is disarmed. The ambassador added: “If Hezbollah is not disarmed, then we will need to stay in our security zone. We are not going to return to a situation where our citizens will be threatened by an Iranian proxy that fires missiles and builds tunnels so they can attack, as Hamas did on October 7th.”
1+Hezbollah, as expected, refuses to disarm, and according to reports in Saudi media is relying on its big sister Iran to bring about a halt to the war with Israel. While the northern border has seen relative quiet recently, the terror organization still expresses opposition to the talks between Israel and Lebanon—which are supposed to lead to its disarmament.
Despite the calmness, Hezbollah still holds vast amounts of weapons and, as his words suggest, won’t give them up anytime soon. Here comes the real test of the talks: Will Lebanon succeed in taking the weapons from Hezbollah—or will the IDF leave the pilot zones while the Iranian terror organization remains armed and poses a real threat.