Gaza Genocide07 August, 20263 min read
Israeli Airstrikes Kill Two Soldiers as Lebanon, Israel Talks Progress in Rome
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Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon near Tyre wounded eight people. Seventh round of Rome talks between Israel and Lebanon suspended, later set to resume.
Rome talks amid strikes
Lebanon and Israel reported progress in the seventh round of US-sponsored direct negotiations in Rome on Wednesday, even as violence escalated in southern Lebanon with Israeli airstrikes hitting several areas and the Israeli military announcing the deaths of two soldiers. The talks, which resumed on Tuesday, were taking place as Israel launched overnight airstrikes on towns in southern Lebanon including Burj Al-Shamali and Mansouri, after Israel issued evacuation warnings for residents of Mansouri, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said one person was killed and 12 wounded on Wednesday in an Israeli strike targeting a prayer hall inside a cemetery in the southern town of Tebnine, and the Israeli military announced on Thursday that two soldiers had been killed in southern Lebanon.
A US State Department official told Al Arabiya that the session ended early because of security developments in southern Lebanon, while describing the discussions as “highly productive” and saying technical teams had made progress on key aspects of implementing the US-brokered trilateral framework. The negotiations were expected to resume on Thursday as scheduled, with the border file showing the most significant progress after talks covering the 1949 Armistice Line, the 2000 Blue Line and the situation on the ground in southern Lebanon.
Disarmament and disputed pauses
As the seventh round continued in Rome, Israeli air strikes and shelling targeting towns in the southern Lebanese district of Tyre wounded several people, with the Lebanese Health Ministry saying “Israeli air strikes that targeted the town of Burj Shemali resulted in the injury of eight persons,” in a statement reported by state media on Thursday. The same period saw a booby-trapped explosion kill two Israeli soldiers and injure four on Wednesday during a search operation in Majdal Zoun, with the soldiers entering a civilian home when the device detonated. Al Jazeera reported that the latest attacks came on the third and final day of the seventh round of US-brokered direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel in the Italian capital, Rome, with Hezbollah’s disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory on the table.
In a separate account of the talks’ disruption, Al-Monitor said the Israeli delegation asked the American representatives to suspend the direct talks with Lebanon for a few hours over alleged leaks by Beirut, quoting an Israeli diplomatic source that “following repeated misleading leaks by the Lebanese delegation,” Leiter asked for the pause. Al-Monitor also said a US State Department official told it the talks “ended early due to events on the ground but will reconvene tomorrow morning,” while a Lebanese official attributed the pause to the security situation in south Lebanon.
What’s at stake next
Negotiators in Rome were working through parallel meetings covering military, political, legal and border issues, including the issue of prisoners, while US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said after the talks on Thursday that the negotiations were “fruitful” at the technical level. Pigott said Lebanon and Israel were “much closer to reaching an agreement on advancing and expanding the pilot zones process,” as the talks focused on model areas for Israel’s phased withdrawal and Lebanon’s demand for the renewal and full implementation of the ceasefire. Al Jazeera’s reporting from Nabatieh said “the latest round of talks in Rome is unlikely to lead to further Israeli withdrawals,” and it added that Israeli officials had made this clear time and time again.
Beyond the pilot zones, Naharnet said a preliminary date for a new round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel was set for September 1, with the U.S. side pledging to follow up on issues of captives and the border with both sides during that period. Naharnet also reported that a shortlist of those who will oversee disarmament in pilot zones had been reached and that it was agreed to resort to the Security Council to seek a new resolution establishing a U.N. framework for the post-UNIFIL period.