After US criticism, Israel ties Lebanon withdrawal to Hezbollah disarmament
By Maayan Lubell and Maya Gebeily JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Israel won't withdraw from southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, the defence minister said on Thursday, qualifying remarks he made a day earlier that had suggested Israeli forces would occupy the territory indefinitely and drew U.S. criticism.
Senior US and Israeli officials on Wednesday night dismissed a Reuters report suggesting Israel and Lebanon had already agreed on the countries that could participate in a future international mechanism to oversee Hezbollah's disarmament and verify Lebanese military activities. Reuters cited unnamed sources, claiming Israel and Lebanon had selected the UK, Italy, Switzerland, and Indonesia to contribute troops under the proposed mechanism.
However, an Israeli source told The Jerusalem Post that no agreement had been reached on the composition of the monitoring body. Similarly, a US official denied the report, stating that there were still no formal agreements between Lebanon and Israel regarding the troop-contributing nations. The US official emphasized that discussions were ongoing and that Hezbollah was attempting to hinder the progress.
The dispute over the verification mechanism is a key issue in US-mediated talks aimed at establishing pilot zones and enhancing cooperation between Israel, Lebanon, and the United States.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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