JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, June 24 (Reuters) - Talks between Israel and Lebanon include discussion of a U.S.-backed proposal for Israeli forces to hand over some of the territory they have invaded during the war with Hezbollah to the Lebanese military, according to Israeli and Lebanese officials.
The Israeli officials said the Lebanese troops involved would undergo U.S. training and vetting to ensure they are not linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah, while Israel would maintain a military presence in a buffer zone along the border.
The proposed “pilot” project is being discussed in the latest round of talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials, which got underway in Washington on Tuesday.
Rejected by Hezbollah, this diplomatic track has been overshadowed as Tehran has made Lebanon a focal point of its negotiations with the U.S.
Asked about the Israeli officials’ comments, a senior Lebanese security official said discussions were ongoing in Washington and that Wednesday would see specific military-to-military discussions, including on the pilot zones.
The Lebanese official said the discussions would focus on a timeline for withdrawal and that any plan would emerge only after the final day of talks on Thursday. The official did not respond to a request for comment on the Israeli officials’ account of U.S. vetting of Lebanese troops.
The latest war between Hezbollah and Israel erupted when the group opened fire at Israel in solidarity with Tehran in the early days of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
A ceasefire has largely held since Sunday, even as Israeli forces have remained deployed deep inside southern Lebanon, where they have seized a self-declared security zone, saying they need this to shield northern Israel from a Hezbollah attack.
The interim agreement signed by Iran and the U.S. last week requires both countries and their allies to declare an immediate and permanent end of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, and to ensure Lebanon’s “territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
(Reporting by Maayan Lubell and Rami Ayyub in Jerusalem and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Thomas Derpinghaus)
