IDF to Remain in Southern Lebanon Security Zone Amid Pilot Zone Implementation

TEL AVIV, July 21. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon as long as it takes to defend settlement in northern Israel and will be free to act to remove threats, an Israeli military source told TASS.

"Israel will remain in the security zone as long as it is necessary to protect communities in northern Israel. The Israel Defense Forces will retain the freedom to act to eliminate threats facing its troops deployed to the security zone," he said, commenting on the beginning of the implementation of the pilot zones project.

The IDF will act via a "coordination mechanism mediated by the United States in the event of violations of the agreement by Hezbollah," he said, adding that "a US-led monitoring mechanism" will be established to control the implementation of the project.

The establishment of the first pilot zone was agreed upon on July 15, following the sixth round of Lebanese-Israeli talks held in Rome. Additionally, following five rounds of US-brokered consultation in Washington, Lebanon and Israel signed, on June 26, a framework agreement, under which the Lebanese military is to gradually restore effective sovereign control over the entire Lebanese territory while Israel is to withdraw its troops of the occupied areas.

On July 20, the US Department of State said that three pilot zones had come into effect in Lebanon. On the same day, the IDF said that it had begun to coordinate its actions with the Lebanese military in the pilot zones in southern Lebanon.