Israeli and Lebanese officials met for a new round of U.S.-mediated talks on Tuesday in an effort to advance a fragile cease-fire and pave the way for Israel to withdraw from the south of the country, even as prospects of a breakthrough remain limited.
Months of intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, has killed thousands of people, uprooted more than a million and left Israeli forces occupying swaths of southern Lebanon. The fighting began shortly after the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, when Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel in support of its patrons in Tehran.
The two-day meetings are being held at the U.S. Embassy in Rome and follow a preliminary agreement reached last month aimed at ending the fighting in Lebanon. The deal, signed on June 26, has faced criticism in Lebanon, largely because it does not include a fixed deadline for Israel’s withdrawal.
Instead, the agreement ties Israel’s departure to the disarmament of Hezbollah, a process led by the Lebanese government that has had limited success. It says that as Israel withdrew from the south, the Lebanese Armed Forces would take control of those areas, enabling displaced residents to return to their homes.
The talks are taking place at a precarious moment for the broader region. The U.S.-Iran framework cease-fire agreement signed last month was predicated on an end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon. In the past few days, both Iran and President Trump have said that the deal was over. As the two sides have traded escalating attacks, it’s unclear how Hezbollah — Iran’s most powerful regional ally — will proceed.
President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon said on Monday that he hoped the talks would produce “concrete and practical steps on the ground” and urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to recognize that military action would not bring lasting security.
Mr. Netanyahu “must understand that war will not achieve security,” Mr. Aoun said in a statement released by the Lebanese presidency. “Therefore, any stability can only come through negotiations and through recognizing that continuing the war will lead to nothing but more killing, destruction and displacement.”
The war has killed more than 4,300 people in Lebanon, along with dozens of Israeli soldiers and several Israeli civilians, according to officials. More than one million people have been displaced in Lebanon, adding pressure to a country already strained by economic challenges, political instability and years of accumulated crises.
The conflict has also revived a long-running question in Lebanon about whether the government has the ability to disarm Hezbollah without triggering further instability or tipping the country into civil war. Hezbollah, which is not participating in the negotiations, has rejected the preliminary cease-fire agreement, and the group has repeatedly opposed efforts by the Lebanese government to strip it of its weapons.
Israel has said it will continue to occupy the more than six miles into Lebanese territory under its control as long as Hezbollah retains its military capabilities. Doing so, it has argued, is a necessary measure to safeguard communities in northern Israel from Hezbollah’s attacks.
A key issue in the talks is likely to be how the withdrawal is implemented. Under last month’s agreement, two initial “pilot zones” were identified for Israeli withdrawal, with additional areas to be determined later through joint discussions.
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