Israel refuses to withdraw from more south Lebanon areas at talks: source

Israel refused in talks on Thursday to withdraw from more areas of south Lebanon unless the Lebanese army had full control of an initial two “pilot zones”, a Lebanese presidential source told AFP.

The seventh round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel was held in Rome under US auspices aimed at ending hostilities between Israel and militant group Hezbollah that have been a violent second front of the Middle East war.

The Lebanese source told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the talks had “not yielded definitive results regarding the pilot zones”.

While the outlook from Beirut was dim, a US State Department spokesperson told AFP that the talks were “productive”.

In June, Israel and Lebanon agreed a framework deal that involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in two “pilot zones”.

The Lebanese army began deploying on July 21 to a southern village whose outskirts were controlled by the Israeli army and which was one of the first two “pilot zones”. It has reinforced its presence in the second zone.

“Lebanon is keen to move on to new areas, whereas the Israeli side insists on verifying (the implementation in) the first two zones before proceeding to the next stage,” the Lebanese source added.

The US official said “the two sides are a lot closer on what needs to be done to advance and expand the pilot zone process”.

The Lebanese source said agreement was reached on a “shortlist” of countries that might oversee the implementation.

The pilot zone plan is the first test of the framework agreement.

But Hezbollah has repeatedly rejected the direct talks and refuses to surrender its weapons.

Alongside the talks, the Israeli army carried out strikes in the south on Thursday, calling it retaliation for the deaths of two soldiers on Wednesday in an explosion.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with heavy air strikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

Since the fighting in Lebanon first erupted, Israel’s military has lost 40 soldiers and one civilian contractor.

AFP