Lebanon-Israel Talks Stalled Over Israeli Withdrawal and Hezbollah’s Weapons

Questions are mounting over the future of negotiations between Beirut and Tel Aviv as two fundamental disputes obstruct progress: how to verify the implementation of security arrangements in southern Lebanon, and Israel’s decision to make its withdrawal and an end to its attacks conditional on Lebanese army action concerning Hezbollah’s weapons.

• Israel Rejects UNIFIL Mandate Renewal as Southern Lebanon Crisis Takes a Complex Turn

• Children and women are not military targets: Lebanon angry after Israeli strikes

The latest round of talks took place on October 20 and 21 at US Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Lebanese and Israeli military delegations attended as part of efforts to implement a security framework agreement reached through US mediation on June 26.

The meeting ended without a tangible breakthrough. Accounts differed, however, with some describing a positive atmosphere and an agreement to hold further meetings, while others stressed that disagreements remained unresolved.

The round followed a two-and-a-half-month pause since talks in Rome on August 6. Discussions were confined to military and technical matters, separate from the political track, while Israeli attacks continued.

• Washington Understandings: Conflicting Reports Over a Partial Israeli Withdrawal from Southern Lebanon

• Conditional Ceasefire Agreement Between Lebanon and Israel

Verification mechanism remains a key sticking point

The framework agreement provides for a phased Israeli withdrawal from designated areas of southern Lebanon in exchange for the deployment of the Lebanese army and verification that those areas are free of Hezbollah weapons and military infrastructure.

According to reports citing US State Department officials, proposals under consideration include establishing a committee to verify the absence of armed activity and military positions south of the Litani River, while monitoring the Israeli withdrawal and Lebanese army deployment.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has reported that the agreement did not produce a final understanding on which external body would verify that the pilot areas were free of weapons held by non-state groups.

• Peace Between Lebanon and Israel: Progress in Negotiations as the United States Identifies the Only Obstacle

• Israel Expands Operations in Southern Lebanon in Preparation for Occupying New Areas

This remains one of the main points of contention. It concerns who would monitor compliance, the scope of that body’s mandate, and the extent to which Israel’s withdrawal would depend on progress in the Lebanese army’s deployment in the south.

According to multiple sources, the Tampa talks focused on pilot areas, deconfliction mechanisms and verification procedures, without reaching a final agreement on monitors’ powers or the expansion of those areas.

On October 17, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Israel was continuing to strike southern

• Israel intensifies operations in Lebanon amid troop mobilization and airstrikes

• Lebanon–Israel negotiations enter a complex security and political phase