The United States, as a mediating country, will support a new round of talks between Israel and Lebanon in early September in Rome, a U.S. State Department official announced today, expressing “satisfaction with the way things are progressing.”
“The political track will resume in Rome in early September, and talks will continue in the meantime in Beirut, Jerusalem, and Washington,” said the official, who asked not to be named.
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“We are satisfied with the way things are progressing. The framework is being implemented, the first (pilot) zones are operational, and the working groups have harmonized their terminology, maps, and procedures,” the official emphasized, referring to the seventh round of negotiations last week in Rome.
Israel and Lebanon, which technically remain at war, signed a framework agreement in late June that provides for the deployment of the Lebanese Army in “pilot zones” that Israel is evacuating. Israel continues to occupy part of southern Lebanon, linking its withdrawal to the disarmament of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah.
The Islamist movement has repeatedly rejected this agreement and refuses to lay down its arms.
Despite the ceasefire in effect since June, Israel continues to carry out precision strikes in Lebanon.
The U.S. official noted that during the latest round of negotiations in Rome, the talks had been delayed due to the Israeli strikes, but the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon was able to “quickly provide accurate information to both sides,” facilitating communication.
And “the military delegations finalized the operational parameters, the joint maps, and a roadmap aimed at opening future pilot zones,” he said.
A source from the Lebanese presidency had, however, told Agence France-Presse that Israel had refused to designate new zones in southern Lebanon for the withdrawal of its army before the Lebanese Army’s effective control of the first two sectors had been “verified.”
During the upcoming round of talks, “Lebanon will present detailed roadmaps for the security of new zones, provided that implementation continues in the existing zones,” the official emphasized.
Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the war in the Middle East in March by firing rockets into Israel in a show of support for Iran. Israel responded with intense airstrikes and a ground invasion in the south. According to Lebanon, the war claimed the lives of more than 4,300 people.
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Meanwhile, a double Israeli strike in southern Lebanon claimed one life and damaged an ambulance, the Ministry of Health announced, condemning the “continued targeting” of rescue workers by the Israeli military.
A previous official report had mentioned two injured people. However, one of the two victims succumbed to his injuries, according to the official Lebanese news agency ANI.
The first strike targeted a vehicle in the southern city of Nabatiyeh. Subsequently, according to the Ministry, the Israeli army carried out a second strike against rescue workers from the emergency aid organization Risala, which is affiliated with the Amal Movement, an ally of Hezbollah. The strike caused damage to their ambulance.
Beirut “reiterates its condemnation of the enemy’s continued targeting of rescue teams, which constitutes an unacceptable violation of international humanitarian law and all international norms,” it added.
The Lebanese Civil Defense also announced that one of its employees was targeted by a drone attack while attempting to extinguish a fire in low vegetation in the Nabatieh Governorate. No one was injured, but a civil defense team was forced to leave the area.
ANI also reported that an explosion was heard and that Israeli artillery fire was reported in other areas of the south.
Source: KYPE
