US-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon wrapped up in Rome on Wednesday after a two-day session, without an exact timeline for when Israel will fulfill its pledge to withdraw from two small pilot zones in south Lebanon, though officials described the dialogue as “positive.”

According to Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV channel, Israeli and Lebanese officials discussed during their meeting on Wednesday how to verify that pilot zones under Lebanese army control are free of Hezbollah weapons and fighters.

A third party will verify disarmament, according to the report. No final decision has been reached, though United Nations forces have been brought up as a possibility.

The two sides did not discuss house searches, Lebanese officials told the outlet.

Lebanon is pushing to start the implementation of the pilot project “as soon as possible,” within a week at the very latest, the Lebanese sources said.

The first pilot zone will include the villages Zatar El-Gharbiyeh, Zatar El-Sharqiya, Ghandouriyeh, Froun, Srifa, and Burj Qalaouiyah, which sit on both the northern and southern banks of the Litani River.

Israel agreed to withdraw from two pilot zones as part of the framework deal inked with Lebanon three weeks ago. Jerusalem described the withdrawals as a very minor concession, given that the pilot zones are located in areas beyond the original buffer zone that the IDF had established in southern Lebanon.

IDF officials have said that while they are ready to implement the withdrawal, they have yet to receive a directive from the political leadership. Lebanese officials previously accused Israel of dragging its feet and threatened not to attend the talks in Rome this week.

However, the US convinced Beirut to back down from the threat, pledging progress on the Israeli withdrawals.

A State Department spokesperson called this round’s two days of discussions “productive and positive.”

“We agreed on the structure and guidelines for the pilot zone process, to be finalized and implemented in the coming days,” the State Department spokesperson said.

The Israeli readout on the talks addressed the issue generally, saying: “⁠The two pilot zones in question were agreed upon. Any further implementation of pilot zones is contingent on the successful implementation of the initial pilot program.

“⁠⁠The pilot zones will serve to test the successful expression of Lebanese sovereignty through the implementation of agreed-upon conditions by the Lebanese armed forces and verification by a third party,” stated the readout attributed to an Israeli official. The official added that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) “were not discussed and will not be part of any verification model.”

He added: “⁠⁠With respect to private property, discussions continue for a solution which will facilitate the removal of contraband weapons while Lebanese law is respected.”

The Israeli official also called this week’s talks “positive,” saying that they “further reinforced that Israel and........

© The Times of Israel