{"id":543202,"date":"2026-07-15T19:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T19:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/543202\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T19:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T19:51:09","slug":"lebanon-and-israel-end-sixth-round-of-us-brokered-talks-israel-attacks-lebanon-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/543202\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon and Israel end sixth round of US-brokered talks | Israel attacks Lebanon News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A US official said the two sides made progress on a plan for Israel to withdraw from \u2018pilot zones\u2019 in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

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Published On 15 Jul 202615 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

Lebanese and Israeli officials have ended another round of US-mediated talks, focusing on a plan to establish \u201cpilot zones\u201d in southern Lebanon from which Israeli forces would begin withdrawing.<\/p>\n

The two-day diplomatic talks<\/a> in Rome ended on Wednesday, with a US official calling the meetings \u201cproductive and positive\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

\u201cWe agreed on the structure and guidelines for the pilot zone process, to be finalised \u2060and implemented in the coming days,\u201d the US official said in comments sent to news agencies.<\/p>\n

Under a US-brokered June 26 framework deal<\/a>, Israeli forces are to withdraw from the large swaths of southern Lebanon they are occupying, in exchange for disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.<\/p>\n

The deal was supposed to begin with two pilot zones<\/a> where the Israeli military is to turn over control to the Lebanese army, which would clear the areas of any Hezbollah presence.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s statement did not specify where the pilot zones would be. German news agency dpa cited government sources as saying the zones being discussed included the towns of Zawtar al-Gharbiyah, Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, al-Ghandouriyah, Burj Qalawiyah, Sarifa and Frun.<\/p>\n

\u2018Very pivotal moment\u2019<\/p>\n

Neither Israel nor Lebanon have commented on the status of the latest talks. But a US \u2060official said talks would move to a technical phase to implement the framework deal and reach a \u201ccomprehensive agreement\u201d between the two states.<\/p>\n

Sami Halabi, director of policy at the think tank Badil: The Alternative Policy Institute, said the pilot zone initiative will test Israel\u2019s willingness to withdraw from Lebanon, the US\u2019s leverage over Israel as well as the Lebanese army\u2019s ability to reestablish its presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at the point where Lebanon is moving from performing its sovereignty to piloting its sovereignty through these pilot zones,\u201d Halabi told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

The latest Israel-Lebanon talks mark the sixth round of face-to-face negotiations since the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah erupted on March 2.<\/p>\n

The direct talks have continued despite deadly Israeli strikes in Lebanon<\/a> and strong objections \u200cfrom \u200cHezbollah, which rejects disarming and says only pressure from its ally Iran can secure an end to the war and Israel\u2019s withdrawal.<\/p>\n

More than 4,000 Lebanese have been killed and more than a million displaced by Israel\u2019s war on Lebanon since March, according to Lebanon\u2019s Ministry of Public Health.<\/p>\n

At least 32 Israeli soldiers and four Israeli civilians have been killed by Hezbollah, most of them in southern Lebanon, since Israel began its attacks.<\/p>\n

Halabi said the latest negotiations and the June 26 agreement have led to a reduction in violence, but that progress remains shaky and could \u201cfall apart at any time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best-case scenario is that it starts a structured and credible process\u201d in which Israeli forces withdraw from southern Lebanon and Lebanon\u2019s army takes over, he said. \u201cWe are at a very pivotal moment that is very sensitive, and any misstep could lead us to an all-out conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A US official said the two sides made progress on a plan for Israel to withdraw from \u2018pilot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,48084,88,47,43],"class_list":["post-543202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-attacks-lebanon","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}