Photo via ynet.co.il
Israel-Lebanon talks in Rome postponed to October
A third round of US-mediated negotiations slips from early September amid the UN General Assembly, Jewish holidays, and a Paris defense conference. Ambassadors will meet in Washington instead.
The next round of Israel-Lebanon negotiations scheduled for Rome next week has been postponed until October, a US diplomatic official confirmed Friday. The delay, originally reported by Axios, came due to a confluence of scheduling conflicts: preparations for the UN General Assembly later this month, the Jewish holiday period, and a Paris conference supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces, according to sources familiar with the planning. While the formal Rome talks slip, the US is preserving forward motion. Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States will still meet at the State Department next week to discuss ongoing implementation of the framework agreement both countries signed in June. That deal—the Trilateral Framework signed by Israel, Lebanon, and the United States—centers on the disarmament of Hezbollah, a phased Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, and deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces to vacated territory in designated "pilot zones." The postponement marks the latest delay in a negotiating track that has advanced fitfully since talks resumed in April. Israel and Lebanon have now completed seven rounds of talks, with the most recent two held in Rome through the summer before this third round slipped. The postponement comes against a backdrop of renewed military intensity. One day before the delay was announced, Israeli forces destroyed tunnels built by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in an operation so powerful the US Geological Survey recorded it as equivalent to a 4.1-magnitude earthquake. Hezbollah has rejected the framework outright, and there are persistent questions about whether the Lebanese military can actually enforce Hezbollah's disarmament or whether Israeli forces will genuinely withdraw. But Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has framed the deal as the first step toward restoring Lebanese sovereignty and has visited the southern border to pledge commitment to an Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction.