[74751] Lebanon sets conditions for US-mediated military negotiations in the south of the country

Developments in military contacts in Lebanon

Official sources in Lebanon told Al Jazeera that a technical military team has been established for negotiation purposes, consisting of six officers led by Brigadier General George Rizkallah. According to the report, the team held a preliminary meeting last Thursday with an American team at the Pentagon. Al Jazeera emphasizes that the role of the delegation is "technical" only, and that the boundaries of its mandate are defined as "maintaining Lebanese sovereignty."

According to the sources, the Lebanese delegation intends to present a demand for the "development of the mechanism of the committee for monitoring the cessation of hostilities," where the basis for any discussion from their perspective is the "demand for a ceasefire." Al-Ghad News emphasized that the official source clarified that "there is no possibility for operational field activity of the Lebanese Army in the south of the country without a ceasefire," and that there is no possibility of discussing the establishment of an "experimental zone" (buffer zone) without a complete cessation of fighting.

Regarding the possibility of Israeli involvement in buffer zones or supervision, the source stated to Al Jazeera categorically that "the Israeli forces cannot be partners in handling any experimental zone whatsoever." This position reflects the official Lebanese line, as reported also in Shehab Agency and Nabatieh Hadrat Jabal Amel, which emphasize the fundamental condition of a ceasefire alongside maintaining sovereignty in the face of any attempt at an Israeli territorial arrangement in southern Lebanon.