Lebanon and Israel have agreed on a shortlist of countries that could send troops to verify the disarmament of Hezbollah under a U.S.-brokered agreement, a Lebanese official said on Friday.

Background

The agreement links Israel’s progressive withdrawal of troops from Lebanon to the disarmament of Hezbollah, which would be “verified” by a third party. Hezbollah is not a party to the agreement and has refused to give up its arsenal.

The list was produced during meetings between Lebanon and Israel at the U.S. embassy in Rome this week, the latest round of talks on how to implement a June 26 deal. The United States will now decide which countries to choose from the list, and could pick more than one country.

There was no immediate response from Israel’s foreign ministry to questions on the shortlist. A State Department spokesperson said the talks were “productive on the technical and expert levels” but did not provide further details.

Next Steps

A framework for the presence of foreign troops in Lebanon would also need to be agreed, possibly by housing them under a U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, whose mandate is due to expire at the end of this year. This would require a new U.N. Security Council resolution, which the U.S. and Israel were now willing to consider.

The talks did not, however, produce an agreement on the next area from which Israeli troops would withdraw so that Lebanese troops could take control. The next round of talks is set for early September.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.