Israel and Lebanon have agreed to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces “will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors” following a fourth round of United States-led talks in Washington DC.
The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, agreed to a conditional ceasefire which hinges on a complete cessation of fire and withdrawal from southern Lebanon by Hezbollah, who were not involved in the peace negotiations.
Hezbollah rejected the ceasefire plan agreed by the Lebanese and Israeli governments as Israel kept up strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it wouldn’t be withdrawing from the south.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said the negotiations were shameless, rejecting the Washington declaration as “a roadmap for the annihilation of a section of the Lebanese people and the enslavement of the rest”.
“As long as the occupation exists, the resistance will continue,” he said in a written statement.
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