Officials from Israel and Lebanon are engaged in ongoing discussions in Washington over a U.S.-supported proposal that would have Israeli forces hand over portions of southern Lebanese territory — currently under Israeli occupation following the war with Hezbollah — to the Lebanese military, according to Israeli and Lebanese officials.
Israeli officials said that Lebanese troops who would take control of the territory would first undergo training and screening by the United States to confirm they have no ties to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Under the proposal, Israel would continue to maintain a military footprint in a buffer zone running along the border.
The proposal is being described as a “pilot” project and is part of the current round of negotiations between Israeli and Lebanese officials, which began in Washington on Tuesday.
Hezbollah has rejected the diplomatic effort, and the process has been further complicated as Iran has made Lebanon a central issue in its own separate negotiations with the United States.
When asked about the Israeli officials’ statements, a senior Lebanese security official confirmed that talks were continuing in Washington and that Wednesday’s agenda would include direct military-to-military discussions, with the pilot zones among the topics on the table.
The Lebanese official said the conversations would center on a timeline for Israeli withdrawal, and that no final plan is expected to emerge until the last day of talks on Thursday. The official declined to address the Israeli account of U.S. vetting procedures for Lebanese troops.
The most recent conflict between Hezbollah and Israel broke out when the group began firing on Israel in a show of solidarity with Tehran during the early stages of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
A ceasefire has largely held since Sunday, though Israeli forces remain positioned deep within southern Lebanon, where they have established a self-declared security zone. Israel has said the zone is necessary to protect northern Israel from potential Hezbollah attacks.
A preliminary agreement reached between Iran and the United States last week calls on both nations and their allies to immediately and permanently halt military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and to uphold Lebanon’s “territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
