Israel claims readiness to move on pilot zones in Lebanon talks

Israel has said it was ready to move forward with plans to withdraw troops from two areas of south Lebanon, as the two countries held a new round of talks in Rome.

US-brokered negotiations were under way in the Italian capital on Tuesday over a framework agreement sealed last month following five rounds of talks in Washington, with Lebanese negotiators hoping for progress on an Israeli withdrawal.

The framework deal emerged after war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2 against the backdrop of the wider Middle East war.

It calls for an end to the war in Lebanon, disarmament of the Lebanese movement, the deployment of Lebanese troops in the south and for Israeli forces to steadily withdraw from the country in two “pilot zones”.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that his country was “ready to move forward implementing these two pilot zones”.

“I hope and tend to believe that this round of discussions in Rome will promote it.”

The Lebanese presidency had announced on Monday that its delegation to Rome had been instructed “to demand the immediate start of Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the two pilot zones before any further discussion”.

Ready to take control ‘gradually’

AFPjournalists saw delegation vehicles entering the US embassy compound in the heart of Rome under tight security on Tuesday morning ahead of the talks, while the embassy declined to comment when asked.

According to a Lebanese diplomatic source familiar with the content of the talks, “the Lebanese army is ready to gradually take control of the localities from which the Israeli army would withdraw”.

But Hezbollah rejects the agreement outright despite Lebanese government pressure, lowering expectations of success in the negotiations.