After Israeli pullback, who will monitor south Lebanon? The key question facing talks

Report by Bassam Abou Zeid, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian

Israel has withdrawn from the town of Zawtar el-Gharbiyeh, and the Lebanese army has deployed there, as well as in Froun and Srifa.

However, the mechanism for verifying the Israeli withdrawal on one hand and the disarmament of Hezbollah and the dismantling of its military infrastructure on the other has not yet been finalized.

U.S. efforts to establish the mechanism are ongoing.

According to the information, U.S. officials informed Lebanese and Israeli authorities that Washington is not considering deploying American troops to southern Lebanon to monitor the implementation of the pilot zones because of the security risks, including the possibility that U.S. forces could become targets of what American officials describe as terrorist attacks.

What is the alternative?

Two teams of U.S. military officers are involved: one in Beirut coordinating with the Lebanese army command and another in Tel Aviv coordinating with the Israeli military.

The two teams are coordinating with General Joseph Clearfield of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to agree on a neutral third party to oversee the monitoring process. However, no agreement has yet been reached.

The issue is expected to be one of the main topics during the next round of negotiations, scheduled for Aug. 4.

According to the available information, Lebanon prefers that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) assume the monitoring role if an international decision is made to maintain the peacekeeping force in Lebanon in one form or another. However, the same information indicates that Israel continues to oppose UNIFIL remaining in southern Lebanon or assuming any monitoring responsibilities there.

The information also indicates that the situation in southern Lebanon, particularly the monitoring mechanism and the identity of the body that will oversee it, will be discussed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump during their meeting in Washington on Tuesday.