Lebanon and Israel resumed talks on Tuesday in Rome, with Beirut hoping for progress towards securing an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon under a US-brokered deal. The US-led diplomacy has emerged since Hezbollah and Israel returned to war on March 2 amid the wider regional conflict, moving forward despite strong objections from the Iran-backed group.

Background

Israel’s military is occupying what it describes as a “buffer zone” about 10 km into Lebanon along the entire length of the Israeli border. Israeli officials say the zone is necessary to protect northern Israeli communities from attacks launched by Hezbollah. A meeting in Washington on June 26 produced an agreement that called for an end to the Lebanon conflict, the disarmament of militant groups – an apparent reference to Hezbollah – as well as the deployment of Lebanese troops to the south and the progressive withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Lebanese and Israeli officials will meet at the US embassy in Rome to set out how to implement the framework deal, Lebanese officials told Reuters. One of the officials said moving the talks to Rome would make it easier for both countries’ delegations to consult their governments for guidance as they negotiated. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday that Italy had offered to host the talks to continue work towards a genuine ceasefire in Lebanon.

Pilot Zones

In comments published by his office on Monday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he hoped the Rome meeting would yield “tangible and practical steps on the ground” to implement the agreement and that it would see Israel begin its troop pull-out so that the Lebanese army could deploy to the south. One of the Lebanese officials said the country’s delegation to Tuesday’s talks would seek the gradual and sequential withdrawal of Israeli troops “one zone after another,” referring to the “pilot zone” project under which Hezbollah would disarm, Israeli forces would withdraw and Lebanese troops would deploy area by area in southern Lebanon.

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