Lebanon has insisted that Israeli troops withdraw from several areas close to the border, while the Israeli military has instead suggested a "redeployment" further back, Lebanese and Israeli security sources said on Friday.
The disagreement has persisted during direct talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials in Washington this week, forcing both sides to extend negotiations until Friday morning after they were originally scheduled to conclude on Thursday.
Meanwhile, another complication has emerged with Hezbollah's rejection of a redeployment to a handful of villages away from the border. The group has told Iranian officials involved in a separate mechanism with the US that Israeli forces must fully withdraw from the Lebanese border towns.
Israel and Lebanon have been discussing the US-backed proposal for Israeli forces to transfer some of the Lebanese territory invaded during the war with Hezbollah to the Lebanese military under a "pilot zone" scheme.
"Lebanon hasn't backed down and is still demanding withdrawal areas closer to the border, areas that the Israelis didn't fully occupy yet but have forces encircling them," a Lebanese security source told The National. "Those zones link to other key areas in the south."
Another Lebanese security source said "there’s no progress because the other delegation is insisting on north of [the] Litani [River] for the pilot zone".
Eli Cohen, an Israeli security cabinet member, said the military has carried out what he described as minor redeployments in southern Lebanon to improve defensive positions. But he insisted forces will not leave border areas, “even if [President Donald] Trump or any other US official were to ask".
The idea of the pilot zones emerged during earlier Israeli-Lebanese negotiations, before the US-Iran deal was signed last week. The agreement was followed by the creation of a new ceasefire mechanism that includes Iran, giving Tehran, Hezbollah's main backer, a direct and formal role in the Lebanon-Israel security file.
On Friday, Hezbollah's leader Naim Qassem said Israel must withdraw from all of southern Lebanon. "National security interests" will be at the top of the agenda to be discussed in Lebanon following the withdrawal, he added.
According to the Lebanese security official, Hezbollah told Iran that it would not accept an Israeli withdrawal from areas far from the border alone and that the message was "likely conveyed" to the Americans through the newly established joint committee.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that an initial Israeli-Lebanese agreement was expected soon, while US and Lebanese sources noted that Thursday's discussions at the State Department in Washington lasted for more than 10 hours.
Mr Rubio stepped into communication channels to push towards concluding the current round of talks by issuing a “declaration of intent” between Lebanon and Israel, according to the sources. The US exerted pressure on both parties to leave this week’s negotiations with some form of agreement.
The Lebanon file has become one of the most critical elements of the US-Iran negotiations, as both parties move to technical discussions aimed at reaching a permanent peace deal in less than two months. Mr Trump has in recent weeks shown growing frustration with Israel's actions in Lebanon.
Two people were killed and one was injured in an Israeli strike on the town of Mayfadoun, in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh district, on Thursday, the Lebanese state-run National News Agency reported. An Israeli strike also hit the town of Nabatieh Al Fawqa on Friday.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced a joint initiative to replace the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon after its withdrawal at the end of the year. "It is necessary to guarantee an international presence in order to avoid a dangerous security vacuum," Ms Meloni said alongside Mr Macron in the southern French city of Antibes.
An international conference may soon be organised for an official launch of the joint mission, she said.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed the initiative, calling it a "sincere expression of the international commitment to supporting Lebanon's sovereignty and stability", the presidency said in a statement.
