BEIRUT \u2013 Lebanon and Israel will begin a seventh round of US-mediated talks in Rome on Tuesday, with veteran diplomat Simon Karam leading the Lebanese delegation as Beirut pushes to expand a pilot security mechanism designed to advance Israeli withdrawals from southern Lebanon despite continuing disagreements over Hezbollah’s disarmament.<\/p>\n
The three-day negotiations, scheduled to run until Aug. 6, come as both sides seek to preserve a fragile US-brokered framework while Israeli military operations continue across southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n
According to a Lebanese source, Karam will head the Lebanese delegation alongside Ambassador Nada Moawad and military officials. Beirut is expected to propose expanding the second phase of the pilot-zone mechanism by adding the southern border town of Bint Jbeil. If Israel rejects that proposal, Lebanon will instead seek to include Khiam, the source said.<\/p>\n
Lebanon will also push to incorporate additional Israeli-held border towns into the phased withdrawal plan while rejecting any Israeli role in verifying implementation of the first phase, insisting that monitoring should instead be carried out by third parties.<\/p>\n
The negotiations follow a new US-backed framework agreed by both sides in June under which the Lebanese Armed Forces would deploy into designated “pilot zones” after Israeli forces withdraw, while removing weapons held by non-state groups and preventing any military presence outside state institutions.<\/p>\n
The pilot-zone mechanism is intended to allow Israeli withdrawals to proceed in parallel with the deployment of the Lebanese army, creating what supporters describe as a gradual pathway for restoring state authority without creating a security vacuum.<\/p>\n
For the Lebanese government, however, the initiative has evolved beyond a security arrangement into a political test of whether state institutions can progressively re-establish their authority across the south after decades of Hezbollah’s military dominance.<\/p>\n
The first pilot zone, centred on Zawtar al-Gharbiyah, has been presented by Lebanese officials as proof that the framework can function. Tuesday’s negotiations will determine whether that model can now be extended.<\/p>\n
Despite the common framework, both sides are entering the talks with sharply different priorities.<\/p>\n
Lebanon’s immediate objectives remain securing a lasting ceasefire, completing Israel’s withdrawal from remaining occupied areas, advancing reconstruction, facilitating the return of displaced residents and securing the release of Lebanese detainees.<\/p>\n
Israel, meanwhile, continues to view Hezbollah’s disarmament as the central condition for any further territorial withdrawals, arguing that the security framework cannot succeed while the group retains military capabilities south of the Litani River.<\/p>\n
That divergence has become one of the negotiations’ principal obstacles.<\/p>\n
While Lebanon considers Israeli withdrawal essential for extending state authority, Israel argues that dismantling Hezbollah’s military infrastructure must come first.<\/p>\n
The diplomatic effort is also unfolding against a backdrop of continuing military escalation.<\/p>\n
Despite the US-mediated process, Israeli forces have intensified operations across parts of southern Lebanon in recent days, carrying out large-scale demolitions that the Israeli military says targeted Hezbollah infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Among the most significant operations was the destruction of tunnel networks near Beaufort Castle, where Israel said hundreds of tonnes of explosives were used, while surveillance drones have continued flying over Beirut.<\/p>\n
Lebanese officials say the operations amount to continued violations that erode confidence in the negotiations, while Israel maintains they are necessary to eliminate Hezbollah positions pending full implementation of the agreement.<\/p>\n
The Rome meeting is not expected to resolve the fundamental disputes surrounding Hezbollah’s future military role, Israeli security demands or the pace of withdrawals.<\/p>\n
Even if negotiators agree to expand the pilot-zone model, implementation is expected to remain gradual and vulnerable to developments on the ground.<\/p>\n
Still, diplomats view the seventh round as an important test of the US-backed framework’s ability to translate limited local security arrangements into a broader and more durable stabilisation process along the Lebanese-Israeli border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEIRUT \u2013 Lebanon and Israel will begin a seventh round of US-mediated talks in Rome on Tuesday, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-571212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571212","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=571212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}