Israel, Lebanon and the US reached an agreement Friday that will see the Israel Defense Forces begin to withdraw from small parts of southern Lebanon, amid the ongoing fighting between the Jewish state and the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

The framework deal was reached on the fourth day of the fifth round of talks that the US has mediated between Israel and Lebanon in Washington, beginning in April. The latest round of fighting in the country kicked off when Hezbollah attacked Israel on March 2, in support of Iran, with several truces declared since then quickly unraveling.

The areas to be withdrawn from have already been cleared by the IDF of Hezbollah infrastructure. In some cases, this has included Israel razing entire Lebanese villages to the ground on the border, with the IDF arguing that Hezbollah was using much of them to plan and carry out attacks against Israel.

Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leither said Israel will maintain its buffer zone in southern Lebanon until the Lebanese Armed Forces demonstrate that they can dismantle Hezbollah and assume responsibility for security.

Leiter stressed that the deal will not be based on a fixed timetable, but on measurable progress by the Lebanese army in disarming Hezbollah.

Additional “pilot” handovers from the IDF to the LAF will take place as benchmarks are met, he said.

Asked whether Gulf states, France, Italy or other international partners will be used to help secure southern Lebanon, Leiter said it was too early to discuss that idea.

He said other countries could take part in Lebanon’s reconstruction but only after Hezbollah has been disarmed.

Rubio: Framework is ‘beginning of the beginning’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a statement declaring the creation of a “trilateral Military Coordination Group for Lebanon (MCG4L), facilitated by the United States” that will implement the agreement, also announced an “immediate” $100 million donation by the US toward humanitarian assistance in coordination with the UN.

He also said the US Defense Department was “prepared to reimburse the Lebanese Armed Forces with more than $30 million under existing authorities and appropriations to support the president’s vision for an enduring peace in Lebanon.”

At the signing ceremony at the State Department in Washington, Rubio appeared to acknowledge the limited scope of the agreement, calling it, “The beginning of the beginning.”

“There’s a lot of work ahead. We don’t in any way underestimate the difficulty of the task ahead, but we understand the importance of it, how vital it is, and we are honored to have played a part in bringing this together,” he said, before going on to praise the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the US, who headed their countries’ respective negotiating teams.

Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh called the “trilateral framework…the first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, securing a permanent and final cessation of hostilities, enabling our people to go back to their land and allowing all Lebanese to live in peace, security and........

© The Times of Israel