The Lebanese army began taking charge of security in three southern villages Monday, the US said, as a deal to eventually secure an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah faced its first test on the ground.
The US State Department announced the commencement of “pilot zone operations,” where Lebanese Armed Forces are slated to deploy in place of withdrawing Israeli troops. Notably, two of the three villages mentioned do not have Israeli forces located in them.
An unnamed senior Israeli official told the Axios outlet that the Israel Defense Forces will make its first withdrawal on Tuesday, but the report did not specify where that would be.
“Today, pilot zone operations began in the villages of Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar Al-Gharbiya, in accordance with the Trilateral Framework and under the auspices of the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon,” the US State Department said in a statement.
Froun and Srifa are located in the first of two pilot zones earmarked for the LAF’s deployment, as part of the framework deal Israel and Lebanon reached last month. That pilot zone is located outside of the IDF’s buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
The second pilot zone straddles both sides of the IDF buffer zone. Zawtar Al-Gharbiya is inside Israel’s buffer zone. Israeli forces currently stationed there will be required to withdraw under the agreement.
A Lebanese army soldier stands at a checkpoint in Froun village, southern Lebanon, July 16, 2026. (Mohammed Zaatari/AP)
The LAF, in a statement, said that “coordination is underway” with the US-led trilateral Military Coordination Group for Lebanon for the deployment of its forces in Zawtar al-Gharbiya, “following the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation from it.”
It also warned Lebanese civilians not to head to the town “and to comply with the instructions of the deployed military units to ensure their safety.”
The Lebanese army said it was also continuing to carry out patrol missions in Froun and Srifa.
The State Department did not specify what it meant by pilot zone operations beginning, but was apparently referring to the deployment of LAF forces in those three villages.
“This milestone is a direct outcome of last week’s discussions between Israel and Lebanon in Rome. The United States will continue working closely with both parties to implement the framework to a successful conclusion,” the State Department statement said.
The framework, signed by Lebanon, Israel, and the United States on June 26, after several rounds of direct negotiations, envisions a phased Israeli pullback from positions in south Lebanon.
In exchange, the Lebanese Armed Forces are to assume sole security control of vacated areas and certify that they have been cleared of Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure.
The pilot zones are intended to try out the approach in a handful of villages straddling the Litani River before it is extended to other areas.
An Israeli soldier rides in a military vehicle in an area occupied by Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, July 9, 2026. (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)
Hezbollah’s forces long held sway in southern Lebanon before the area was taken by the IDF. The Iran-backed terror group has rejected the framework, insisting any arrangement in Lebanon be linked to wider negotiations between Washington and Tehran. It has not said whether it will resist implementation of the pilot zones in the designated areas.
The agreement does not set a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal. While Israel agreed to withdraw troops from the second pilot zone as part of the framework deal, it has yet to do so, with military officials previously saying they have not received a directive from elected leaders to pull out of the area.
The Israeli foot-dragging on the withdrawal has marred negotiations with Lebanon, which briefly threatened to boycott last week’s talks in Rome, before the US managed to talk Beirut down with assurances that progress would be made on the issue.
Israeli officials have vowed that their forces will remain in a “security zone” 10 kilometers (six miles) deep along the frontier for as long as Hezbollah remains armed.
Italian police patrols in front of the US embassy in Rome, where Lebanese and Israeli delegations were set to meet July 14, 2026. (AP/Alessandra Tarantino)
The talks in Rome came ahead of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s planned meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday.
Lebanon and Israel, which have no formal relations, started negotiations after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the US-Israeli war with Iran by attacking Israel in March.
The framework agreement was reached amid a fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Israel still launches occasional strikes in southern Lebanon and carries out detonations in villages it occupies near the border. Hezbollah and Israel fought a previous round of conflict in 2023-2024, after Hezbollah began firing at Israel in the wake of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught.
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