The US State Department said on Monday that the implementation of pilot zones for the Israeli military's withdrawal from south Lebanon, under a framework agreed in June, had begun in three Lebanese villages.
“Today, pilot zone operations began in the villages of Froun, Srifa and Zawtar Al Gharbiyeh in accordance with the Trilateral Framework and under the auspices of the Military Co-ordination Group for Lebanon,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told reporters.
However, two of the villages – Froun and Srifa – were already empty of Israeli troops and had Lebanese soldiers operating there, state officials and local residents told The National.
Israeli troops were present at Zawtar Al Gharbiyeh, but only on the outskirts, they said.
“We're checking with the Americans,” a Lebanese security official said after the State Department's announcement.
The Lebanese Army later said in a statement that it was continuing to carry out its work in Srifa and Froun and that talks were underway with the Military Co-ordination Group for Lebanon to deploy to Zawtar Al Gharbiyeh after the Israelis have withdrawn. Israeli media reported the latter won't begin until Tuesday.
As a result, the LAF urged residents of the latter town not to return yet and comply with local military directives.
The Military Co-ordination Group for Lebanon was formed as part of the framework agreement.
Mr Pigott said the milestone was “a direct outcome of last week's discussions between Israel and Lebanon in Rome” and that the United States would “continue working closely with both parties to implement the framework to a successful conclusion”.
The announcement came as Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun was paying a high-profile visit to Washington to seek US pressure on Israel to start implementing the agreement. He met Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday, and will meet President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
A State Department official said the establishment of the initial pilot zones represents "real progress on the ground".
"It is an opportunity for the Lebanese state to begin to reassert real control in areas historically dominated by Hezballah," the official said.
"The zones will build confidence between the parties and will create the momentum needed to expand the process and move towards peace."
Mr Aoun's visit, his first to Washington since taking office in January last year, followed two days of US-mediated Israel-Lebanon talks in Rome last week that ended without a timetable for implementing the June 26 agreement.
According to the agreement, the pilot areas would “serve as the mechanism for the phased and verified redeployment of Israeli forces and the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces”.
The Israeli military occupied large areas of south Lebanon in a ground invasion launched after the Lebanese armed group and political party Hezbollah began launching rockets across the border on March 2. This followed the launch of a joint Israel-US aerial war on Iran that also killed its supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Hundreds of thousands of residents have been forcibly displaced across Lebanon and are waiting to return home after the Israeli offensive that has caused billions of dollars worth of damage and killed more than 4,300 people while degrading an already weakened Hezbollah.
Israel had already been occupying a handful of areas in south Lebanon and carrying out daily deadly air strikes despite a ceasefire deal reached in November 2024 to end the previous round of fighting with Hezbollah.
Israel insists it will not withdraw until the threat posed to its northern communities by the Iran-backed group is removed. Meanwhile, its military has been demolishing dozens of towns and villages that it occupies as part of its so-called security zone in south Lebanon.
Hezbollah has resisted any move to take its weapons, particularly while Lebanon remains under attack and occupation.
The framework agreement says that “once non-state armed groups are successfully disarmed and their infrastructure dismantled” in the pilot areas, the Lebanese Armed Forces will “assume exclusive security responsibility, internationally supported reconstruction will begin, and Lebanese civilians will be able to return safely”.
Lebanese officials have repeatedly said they were waiting for Israel to start the process by pulling out of agreed areas and allowing the LAF to take control.
“We are ready to deploy any time when there is a withdrawal,” a Lebanese security official told The National on Monday before the State Department announcement.
