Lebanon’s army says its troops are deploying to a “pilot zone” in the south of the country following the withdrawal of Israeli forces under a US-brokered agreement reached last month.
Engineering units entered the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh in Nabatieh district on Tuesday morning, the army command announced.
Later, it said Israeli forces had opened fire in the vicinity of the troops. Israel’s military said warning shots had been fired after the troops crossed into the Israeli-declared “security zone”.
The pilot zone plan should see Israeli troops pulling out of a small part of the territory occupied during their conflict with Hezbollah and the disarmament of the Iran-backed Lebanese group.
Tuesday’s deployment began ahead of a meeting in Washington between US President Donald Trump and his Lebanese counterpart, Joseph Aoun.
Aoun was expected to urge Trump to put pressure on Israel to withdraw from the rest of southern Lebanon and support the Lebanese army in taking full control of areas where Hezbollah holds sway.
“I told him [Trump] I need two things from you: political support and supporting the LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces],” Aoun told reporters in the Oval Office.
Speaking alongside Aoun, Trump vowed that the US would provide help to Lebanon which had been “hit hard” for decades.
“It’s been a very badly treated place and country, and we’re going to have it properly treated,” he said. “And treated with the respect it deserves.”
The US state department announced on Monday afternoon that “pilot zone operations” had begun in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh and two other Lebanese villages, Froun and Srifa, in line with the Trilateral Framework agreed by Israel, Lebanon and the US at the end of June.
It said the “milestone” was the direct result of discussions last week between Israeli and Lebanese representatives in Rome.
Later on Monday, an Israeli military official confirmed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would “adjust its force posture in one of the pilot areas” to allow the Lebanese army to carry out its mission, while also “safeguarding the security of IDF soldiers and preserving its right to self-defence and to remove threats”.
“The objective of the pilot and the agreement is the disarmament of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and the removal of its illegal weapons,” the official said.
They also reiterated that the IDF would remain in the “security zone” – the 10km (six-mile) deep strip of occupied Lebanese territory running along the border – for “as long as necessary” to defend northern Israeli communities.
