Israeli forces continued demolishing houses near East Zawtar after the Lebanese Army deployed to the area, a Lebanese military source told Arab News. Missiles had landed just meters from Lebanese soldiers, the source said, accusing Israeli forces of targeting Lebanese military vehicles even though the two sides had no agreed verification mechanism.
Israeli pressure and army coordination
The source accused Israel of pursuing a systematic campaign against the Lebanese Armed Forces to force direct coordination between the two armies. Lebanon wouldn’t accept an arrangement that put its military under Israeli control, the source said. “Israel wants the Lebanese Army to become like Lahad's army, taking orders and carrying out instructions,” the source told Arab News. “That will never happen.”
The source compared the proposed role to the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army, once commanded by Antoine Lahad during Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon. Israel wanted to make the Lebanese Army “one of its employees,” the source said. “That is something that can’t happen.”
Retired Maj. Gen. Abdel Rahman Shehaitly, Lebanon's former representative in negotiations over the southern land border, also rejected direct coordination. “The Israeli side is making false claims concerning the verification mechanism,” Shehaitly told Arab News. “What Israel really wants is to become the Lebanese army's direct coordinator. That’s simply unacceptable.”
Shehaitly said that even during the approximately 30 years of Syrian military presence in Lebanon, Syrian and Lebanese military units had no direct coordination on Lebanese territory. Instead, coordination took place through a designated liaison office. Direct coordination between the Lebanese and Israeli armies on the ground in southern Lebanon was “inconceivable,” he said.
Pilot zones and continuing attacks
The Lebanese military deployed to the initial pilot zones in July under a framework agreement reached during US-mediated negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. The agreement provided for a verification mechanism, the military source said, but Israel had repeatedly obstructed efforts to establish one, including by rejecting French, Italian and German participation.
Israel had refused every proposed verification mechanism and opposed expanding the pilot zones, the source said. Washington, the source added, wasn’t willing to send American personnel to the mechanism because of the risks involved.
Israeli forces withdrew from West Zawtar in July in the first test of a US-backed pilot-zone initiative. The initiative aimed to secure a gradual Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah's disarmament. No additional pilot zones have been agreed since that initial withdrawal, amid disagreement over verification and Israeli opposition to expanding the initiative.
West Zawtar Mayor Abed Ezzedine told Reuters that the program hadn’t delivered its promised improvements. Basic services, including electricity and running water, remained largely unavailable. “In principle, I can tell you that no, it's not successful. Based on what we were promised: that West Zawtar as a pilot zone would be a model town,” Ezzedine said.
The Israeli military told Reuters that efforts to eliminate the threat posed by Hezbollah's weapons remained incomplete. It said drones were being used to identify potential threats and that restrictions on residents' movements were intended to protect Israeli troops. A US State Department spokesperson called the pilot-zone process “the only viable path” to security for Lebanon and Israel, and said it would be expanded after the Lebanese military completed clearance operations in the initial zone. The spokesperson described Hezbollah's disarmament as “an integral part of this process.”
Talks suspended as residents remain displaced
The eighth round of direct Lebanese-Israeli negotiations under US mediation remained suspended, and Beirut had received no official notification from Washington about the next meeting date. Officials had discussed a military-focused round in Florida before the end of October, but no date had been formally communicated to the Lebanese side.
Israeli military operations continued in the so-called yellow zone, where evacuation threats had prevented displaced residents from trying to return home. More than a million Lebanese fled their homes after hostilities broke out, when Israel launched airstrikes and a ground invasion after Hezbollah fired into Israel in solidarity with Tehran during the war involving Iran.
A ceasefire agreed in June didn’t end Israeli strikes in Lebanon, according to the article. Israeli troops also remained in control of a self-declared security zone encompassing dozens of Lebanese villages, many of which the military campaign had demolished. Ending the conflict in Lebanon was among Iran's conditions for a broader peace agreement, prompting Washington to intensify efforts to reach a settlement.