Washington, 12 September (H.S.): The date and venue for the next round of ongoing talks between Israel and Lebanon have been changed. The meeting scheduled to take place in Rome next week has now been postponed until October, while the ambassadors of the two countries will meet at the U.S. Department of State in Washington. The meeting will focus on implementing the framework agreement reached in June and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, citing a U.S. official, reported that the meeting would discuss developments related to the June agreement and the process of its implementation. The next formal round of talks is now expected to take place in Rome in October.

Meanwhile, according to a source familiar with the matter, the key participants could not gather in Rome next week due to Jewish religious holidays, a conference in Paris in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces, and preparations for the United Nations General Assembly. Neither the Israeli nor the Lebanese government has so far issued an official comment on the change in the meeting schedule.

Israel and Lebanon have held seven rounds of direct talks since April, with five meetings taking place in Washington and two in Rome. During the sixth round of talks, the two sides reached an initial understanding on identifying two “pilot areas” for beginning the withdrawal of Israeli forces. Under the proposed framework, Israel is required to withdraw gradually from occupied Lebanese areas in exchange for the deployment of the Lebanese Army.

The change in the talks comes at a time when the Lebanese Army claimed on Wednesday that Israel had violated the framework agreement nearly 7,700 times since it was signed on June 26. The Lebanese Army warned that the alleged continued violations were threatening existing agreements and security arrangements.

The framework agreement provides for the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces alongside the deployment of the Lebanese Army in southern Lebanon. The process is planned to begin as a model implementation in two pilot areas.

Israel has maintained a presence in parts of southern Lebanon for a prolonged period, while its military presence expanded into additional areas following the 2023-24 war. Meanwhile, continued Israeli strikes and military activities in Lebanese territory have kept tensions between the two countries high.

On the other hand, Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah has consistently opposed the talks and called on the Lebanese government to halt the negotiations. Against this backdrop, the proposed talks in Rome in October will indicate how far the two sides are able to advance towards implementing the framework agreement.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar