Israel-Lebanon Framework Agreement Outlines Gradual IDF Withdrawal

WASHINGTON, June 27. /TASS/. A framework agreement on a settlement between Israel and Lebanon provides for the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory, according to the document posted by the US State Department on its website.

Signed the day before in Washington by officials from the US, Israel, and Lebanon, the agreement noted that Tel Aviv and Beirut intend "to conclusively end the conflict and address its underlying causes." Under the terms of the agreement, the parties ensure "the capacity of the Lebanese Armed Forces to assert full military and security control within Lebanon in accordance with security arrangements," as well as "to implement the disarmament of all non-state armed groups and exercise effective authority across Lebanon." The agreement specified that this will "enable the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to progressively redeploy out of the Lebanese territory."

Details on this "sequenced process" are expected to be set forth in an annex "developed with the full support of the United States." In particular, it will set out "the requisite measures, security arrangements, and verification mechanisms to advance this process."

The parties have identified two areas within Lebanon over which Israeli servicemen will gradually transfer control to Lebanese forces. The specific territories in question have not been specified. According to the document, "the government of Lebanon reaffirms its resolute and irreversible commitment to restoring and exercising full sovereignty over all its territory." In turn, the Israeli authorities state that eliminating the threat posed by armed groups in Lebanon, including the Shia group Hezbollah, "will eliminate any future need for IDF military action or presence in Lebanon."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington, Yechiel Leiter and Nada Hamadeh Moawad, announced on Friday a framework agreement reached between the parties after five rounds of negotiations. They noted that this document paves the way for peace following the conflict between Israel and the pro-Iranian Shia group Hezbollah.