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’
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.
A US military delegation began discussions with the Lebanese army in Beirut on Saturday on the process for Israeli withdrawal from one of these "pilot zones".
Israel killed over 4,300 since March
The framework agreement was concluded after a fragile ceasefire came into effect last month in Israel’s war on Lebanon.
The Israeli army has nonetheless continued limited strikes in the south and has been carrying out demolitions in villages it occupies, according to official Lebanese media.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported a strike on the southern town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa on Tuesday.
Israel's strikes and ground invasion have killed more than 4,300 people since the war started in early March, according to Lebanese authorities.
Tehran had demanded the ceasefire in Lebanon in order to conclude a memorandum of understanding with Washington on June 17.
But the region has seen a renewed escalation in recent days, with the US carrying out a third consecutive night of strikes against Iran ahead of the planned reimposition on Tuesday of its naval blockade on Iranian ports with ongoing attacks.
