Amid a difficult process whose outcome stands to determine the future security and stability of the region, the United States and Israel are engaged in tough negotiations over Lebanon. While Tel Aviv wants to continue deploying forces south of the Litani, Washington seeks a calm that would make its interim agreement with Iran a success — even if that means threatening Israel with serious consequences. Israel has explicitly declared that its army is working to establish a security zone extending 10 kilometres into southern Lebanon, while Lebanon has linked its own security to that of the region and even Europe.
Two Israeli officials said Israel is conducting negotiations with the United States over efforts to continue deploying forces in southern Lebanon.
The statements by the officials — one of them senior and close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — came a day after the United States and Iran signed an interim agreement calling for guarantees of Lebanon's territorial integrity and sovereignty. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
The senior official added that Israel is conducting tough negotiations with Washington to continue its troop deployment in southern Lebanon.
He said Israel would not back down from its positions, which include keeping forces deployed in the area south of the Litani River in Lebanon.
A second Israeli official said the outcome of the talks would depend on whether US President Donald Trump insists on his position and threatens Israel with serious consequences if it does not comply with the terms of the interim agreement with Iran.
In a clear indication that Israel intends to press ahead with its plans in Lebanon, the army said yesterday that its forces are operating in a security zone extending 10 kilometres into southern Lebanon.
The Israeli army said this deployment is taking place in accordance with operational needs, adding that its forces have positioned themselves in their operational areas in southern Lebanon.
Three people were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon yesterday, according to the official National News Agency.
The agency reported that two people were killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting a vehicle in the town of Kfar Tibnit in southern Lebanon, having previously reported one person killed and another wounded.
It noted that one of the victims was an expatriate who had returned from Gabon, and the other was a world champion in cycling competitions and a holder of international medals, adding that the two had entered the village to check on it. The agency also reported that a young man was killed in the town of Zabdine in a drone strike that targeted him in the early hours of Thursday.
The Israeli army, for its part, announced the death of one of its soldiers and the wounding of seven others during fighting in southern Lebanon yesterday.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun affirmed that stability and security in Lebanon are important for the region and for Europe.
Aoun, speaking during a meeting with a joint Qatari, French and British ministerial delegation, said that stability and security in Lebanon are important not only for the region but for Europe as well, such that stability in the region and Europe cannot be ensured without stability in Lebanon.
He added: "Your support for us is of the utmost importance, not only on the humanitarian side, but also in continuing to support the army and security forces, because they are the guarantors of security and stability for Lebanon to rise again and embark on the path of recovery."
He pointed out that the path of economic, financial, administrative and judicial reforms is a fundamental Lebanese demand, even before it is a demand from the friendly countries supporting Lebanon, but the war occurred and obstructed, for a period, the reforms we had launched as soon as the government was formed.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stressed that any infringement on Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity constitutes a flagrant violation of the rules of international law and UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
This came during a phone call received by Minister Abdelatty from Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, for consultations on developments in Lebanon, according to Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tamim Khallaf. The spokesman said in a statement that Minister Abdelatty renewed, during the call, Egypt's full solidarity with Lebanon in facing the current delicate challenges, emphasising the Egyptian position calling for Israel's complete withdrawal from all Lebanese territory.
The spokesman added that Minister Abdelatty stressed the importance of supporting Lebanese state institutions, particularly the Lebanese army, to enable them to fulfil their responsibilities in extending the state's authority and sovereignty over the entire national territory, emphasising in this context the necessity of achieving an exclusive monopoly on arms by the Lebanese state, as the fundamental pillar for preserving Lebanon's security and stability, supporting the state's choice and safeguarding the capabilities of the Lebanese people.