Israel And Lebanon Hold US-Mediated Technical Talks At CENTCOM In Tampa, Florida

Tampa talks resume

Lebanon and Israel held US-mediated technical military talks at the US Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, and the first day ended Tuesday with talks set to resume Wednesday, according to diplomatic sources cited by Anadolu Ajansı. The meetings began Tuesday at US Central Command headquarters in Tampa and lasted around six hours, with the agenda focused on reviewing implementation of a “framework agreement” and discussing “pilot areas” in southern Lebanon from which the Israeli army is scheduled to withdraw. Officials from Israel and Lebanon met at the US Central Command (CENTCOM) headquarters in Tampa, Florida, and the meeting aimed to continue the implementation of the US-brokered framework agreement.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confirmed Lebanon's participation in the talks on Monday, and the agenda was reportedly focused on security rather than normalization. Israel and Lebanon held US-mediated discussions at the “working level” in Tampa, Florida, without the participation of Jerusalem's or Beirut's ambassador to Washington, and the talks were set for October 20-21.

Reporting for this sectionAnadolu AjansıThe Jerusalem Post

Boycott law pressure

Lebanese lawyer Hassan Bazzi filed a complaint against his country’s ambassador to Washington, and Middle East Eye said the case prompted a rebuke from the US State Department, threats of sanctions against Lebanese judges, and renewed US pressure on Beirut to repeal laws that criminalised contact with Israelis for seven decades. On 27 September the Beirut Review said Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad contacted her Israeli counterpart in Washington, Yechiel Leiter, after his son was critically wounded in a car-ramming attack at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. Lebanon’s Israel boycott law, adopted in 1955, criminalises contact with Israelis, carrying penalties of three to 10 years of hard labour, and Moawad and Leiter have been at the centre of US-brokered direct talks between Lebanon and Israel since April.

Hassan Bazzi said, "The danger of the matter, if the reports are true, is that she is not an ordinary citizen," and he added, "An ambassador and a negotiator should be fighting in the name of the Lebanese people and their pain, especially southerners." US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott called it "embarrassing" that a military court was handling a complaint against the ambassador "for carrying out the policy of their legitimate government".

Reporting for this sectionMiddle East Eye

Disarmament and withdrawal stakes

The Tampa meeting aimed to continue the implementation of the US-brokered framework agreement, which it described as including the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization.

Lebanon's demands included an end to Israel's operations in southern Lebanon and the military's withdrawal from the country, while the report emphasized the talks were not peace negotiations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told during a briefing on Sunday that Israel would demand that the Lebanese Armed Forces demonstrate its ability to clear Hezbollah threats from two designated pilot areas under the framework, warning that Israel would take action itself if the Lebanese military failed to do so.

Netanyahu said, "We gave you two ‘pilot zones’ – go in, clear them out. Can you do it? Good. You can’t do it? We’ll take care of it," and the talks were expected to focus on advancing the Trilateral Framework Agreement aimed at disarming Hezbollah and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military accused elements within the Lebanese army of allegedly coordinating with Hezbollah to obstruct enforcement of security arrangements, and the Lebanese army later rejected the claims, describing them as false and accusing Israel of seeking to undermine its credibility.

Reporting for this sectionThe Times of IsraelThe New Arab