Lebanon Talks: Israel Ready to Advance Pilot Zones
Resumen
r/Lebanon covers new Rome talks, where Israel says it is ready to move forward with two pilot zones and gradual withdrawals. The Lebanese army is prepared to take control of areas vacated by Israeli forces, while Hezbollah rejects the agreement, leaving the negotiations uncertain.
Israel says ready to move on pilot zones amid new Lebanon talks
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".
AFP journalists 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.
Orna Mizrahi of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv said Israel was "willing to withdraw gradually", but on the condition that "that there will be no presence of Hezbollah in the areas that Israel is withdrawing from".
She added that Israel also seeks to ensure "that the Lebanese army will have the ability... to keep it as a neutralised zone and a neutralised place that Hezbollah cannot come in again."
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said 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."
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