Despite deadly flare-up in violence, US claims progress made in Israel-Lebanon talks

The US State Department asserted Thursday that progress was made in negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in Rome, despite a significant flare-up in violence a day earlier. "The two sides are a lot closer on what needs to be done to advance and expand the pilot zone process," a State Department spokesperson said Thursday, after Jerusalem and Beirut wrapped up their seventh round of direct talks. The negotiations picked up amid the heaviest cross-border fighting in weeks, with the IDF striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon after two IDF soldiers were killed by an explosive on Wednesday. But a Lebanese presidential source told AFP on Thursday that Israel had refused in talks to withdraw from more areas of south Lebanon unless the Lebanese army had full control of an initial two "pilot zones." The Lebanese source told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the talks had "not yielded definitive results regarding the pilot zones." "Lebanon is keen to move on to new areas, whereas the Israeli side insists on verifying [the implementation in] the first two zones before proceeding to the next stage," the source added. The Haaretz news site said that Israel is refusing to conduct further withdrawals amid disagreements over the mechanism for inspecting whether territory has been cleared of Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure. After three days of US-mediated talks in Rome this week, the sides have yet to agree on which countries would be represented on the verification committee, Haaretz reported, adding that a small list of potential countries has been put together but that no consensus has been reached. The Lebanese Al Akhbar outlet reported Thursday that the US is taking Israel's side on the pace of the Lebanese army's disarming of Hezbollah. American mediators told their Lebanese counterparts on Wednesday that they do not intend to pressure Israel to accelerate the IDF's withdrawal, according to the report, and that the Lebanese Armed Forces must take clear steps in disarming Hezbollah across Lebanon so that the pilot zones can be accelerated and expanded. A diplomat familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly said earlier this week that Lebanon had asked for the next pilot zone to be either in the town of Khiam or Bint Jbeil. Both areas saw heavy fighting in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war and are currently occupied by Israeli forces. According to the Saudi Asharq News network, the meeting in Rome had three parallel tracks: legal, political and military. The political track reportedly addressed the proposed pilot zones, while the military track aimed to agree on common definitions of military operations. The legal track dealt with Lebanese prisoners held by Israel, according to Asharq, which called the atmosphere on the issue "positive." Lebanese civilians detained by Israel will be handled separately from Hezbollah operatives captured by Israel, according to the report. The sides met Thursday in the Italian capital as the heaviest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in weeks erupted a day earlier, after the two IDF reservists were killed and another seriously wounded when they were hit by an explosive device in southern Lebanon. Israel responded with heavy strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, said it had recorded 113 projectiles launched by the IDF on Wednesday, the highest number recorded since June 21. While the talks in Rome ended early on Wednesday amid the escalation, they resumed Thursday morning as scheduled. The condition of the four IDF soldiers seriously wounded in southern Lebanon on Wednesday stabilized, the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa said Thursday. According to an initial IDF probe, at around noon on Wednesday, troops of the reserve brigade entered a structure in the town during efforts to demolish Hezbollah infrastructure. As they entered the building, an explosion occurred, killing Maj. (res.) Harel Birenstock, 34 and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Tamir Vaknin, 33, and injuring others. Both Birenstock and Vaknin were laid to rest in Israel on Thursday, with hundreds of mourners turning out for the funerals. Their deaths marked the first IDF casualties in Lebanon since Cpt. David Hazutt was killed on June 28.