DUBAI: Lebanon and Israel made progress in the seventh round of US-sponsored direct negotiations in Rome on Wednesday, Lebanese sources told Al Arabiya, although the session ended earlier than planned amid conflicting accounts over why talks were temporarily suspended.
The negotiations, which resumed on Tuesday, were taking place as violence escalated in southern Lebanon, with Israeli airstrikes hitting several areas and the Israeli military announcing the deaths of two soldiers.
Lebanese sources told Al Arabiya that Wednesday’s discussions advanced across political, military and border-related issues, with the most significant progress made on the border file after talks covering the 1949 Armistice Line, the 2000 Blue Line and the situation on the ground in southern Lebanon.
The 1949 Armistice Line was the ceasefire line established after the first Arab-Israeli war, and the 2000 Blue Line was the UN-drawn line marking Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
According to the sources, the Lebanese delegation requested a 60-day renewal of the ceasefire to help consolidate the truce, halt violations and allow implementation of the framework agreement reached in June to continue under more stable conditions.
The sources also said discussions advanced on legal and border references and that participants sorted proposals concerning a third party that would oversee the verification and monitoring mechanism for implementing the agreement, paving the way for further talks.
However, accounts differed over why Wednesday’s session ended around three hours before its scheduled conclusion.
A diplomatic source familiar with the talks told Al Arabiya that Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli delegation head and ambassador to Washington, requested the session end early, citing what he described as repeated misleading leaks by the Lebanese side.
Agence France-Presse, citing a source from the Israeli negotiating team, similarly reported that Israel had asked US mediators to end the session early, with Leiter criticizing what he called “repeated and defamatory leaks” from the Lebanese delegation.
Lebanese presidential sources, however, told Al Arabiya that it was the US delegation that requested a temporary suspension to continue consultations aimed at bridging remaining differences between the two sides.
A US State Department official also told Al Arabiya that the session ended early because of security developments in southern Lebanon, but described the discussions as “highly productive,” saying technical teams had made progress on key aspects of implementing the US-brokered trilateral framework. The official said negotiations were expected to resume on Thursday as scheduled.
Talks in detail
According to Lebanese sources cited by Al Arabiya, Wednesday’s talks focused on three main tracks: political, military, and border issues.
The Lebanese delegation presented maps and documents related to the Armistice Line, the Blue Line and current conditions on the ground, while military discussions included proposals to expand the “pilot areas” established under the framework agreement. Lebanese sources said Israel did not agree to proposals to include areas around Khiam and Bint Jbeil in the next phase.
The two sides were also expected to discuss the issue of prisoners during Thursday’s meetings, according to the Lebanese sources.
The negotiations come against a backdrop of renewed fighting along the border.
Israel launched a series of overnight airstrikes on towns in southern Lebanon, including Burj Al-Shamali and Mansouri, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. The strikes came after Israel had issued evacuation warnings for residents of Mansouri.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had carried out “precision” strikes in southern Lebanon in response to what it described as a “blatant violation of the ceasefire” by Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said one person was killed and 12 wounded on Wednesday in an Israeli strike targeting a prayer hall inside a cemetery in the southern town of Tebnine.
The Israeli military announced on Thursday that two soldiers had been killed in southern Lebanon, marking its first reported fatalities in the area in more than a month. Hezbollah did not comment on the announcement.
The latest negotiations follow a framework agreement reached in June that calls for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, deployment of the Lebanese army in areas vacated by Israeli forces, and the disarmament of Hezbollah in those areas.
Hezbollah has rejected the agreement and refuses to surrender its weapons. Naim Qassem, the group’s leader, said on Tuesday that the direct negotiations would bring Lebanon “nothing but shame, humiliation, disappointment and successive concessions.”
Violence has eased since a preliminary US-Iran understanding on the regional conflict in June, followed by the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel, but hostilities have continued sporadically.
According to AFP, more than 4,300 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict began, while 38 Israeli soldiers and civilian contractors have also been killed.
