Lebanon will take part in talks with Israel scheduled for next week in Rome, a Lebanese official said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The talks, mediated by Washington, are aimed at translating a framework agreement signed on June 26 into concrete steps on the ground © Mena Today
Lebanon will take part in talks with Israel scheduled for next week in Rome, a Lebanese official said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The announcement came as a US military delegation began talks in Beirut the same day with the Lebanese army on implementing Israel's withdrawal from one of two "pilot zones" in the south of the country.
The talks, mediated by Washington, are aimed at translating a framework agreement signed on June 26 into concrete steps on the ground, including the handover of the pilot zones to the long-sidelined Lebanese army once Israeli forces withdraw.
Lebanon and Israel, which have no diplomatic relations, have held several rounds of indirect negotiations since the war began, with the Rome meeting set to be the latest chapter in that process.
A Lebanese official denied on Thursday a Reuters report that Beirut had agreed with Israel to a shortlist of countries that could send troops to Lebanon to verify the disarmament of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and said it was following up on the issue with Washington.
Israel won't withdraw from southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, the defence minister said on Thursday, qualifying remarks he made a day earlier that had suggested Israeli forces would occupy the territory indefinitely and drew U.S. criticism.
Israeli troops clashed with Jewish settlers on Wednesday while trying to disperse them from a West Bank outpost they set up directly in front of Palestinian homes, and later withdrew from the area after failing to clear the settlers, witnesses said.
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