US delegation to Beirut to oversee pilot zones in Lebanon

Israel and Lebanon have begun implementing a U.S.-brokered framework agreement to de-escalate tensions along their shared border, with a U.S. military delegation set to arrive in Beirut within days to coordinate the process. The agreement, signed in Washington on June 26, establishes pilot zones in southern Lebanon from which Hezbollah forces are to withdraw, allowing the Lebanese Armed Forces to assume control and paving the way for an eventual Israeli military pullback.

The implementation phase follows the announcement that Israeli and Lebanese officials will resume talks in Rome on July 15 and 16. A Lebanese diplomatic source stated on Wednesday that Lebanon has conditioned its participation in the Rome talks on Israel first withdrawing from two initial pilot zones. The U.S. official described the Rome meeting as a closed discussion that will allow governments to hand off work to technical teams tasked with executing the framework's provisions.

The framework aims to gradually transfer security responsibility in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese state while addressing the threat posed by Hezbollah, which was excluded from the negotiations and has rejected the agreement....