Lebanon, Israel shortlist countries to verify Hezbollah disarmament under US deal: Report

Lebanon and Israel have agreed on a shortlist of countries that could deploy personnel to independently verify the disarmament of Hezbollah under a US-brokered agreement, according to a Times of Israel report, citing a Lebanese official said, with Washington now expected to select the countries that will take part.

The official did not disclose the names of the countries on the shortlist or specify how many nations were included.

However, previous reporting by Reuters, citing another Lebanese official and two foreign diplomats, said Israel and the US had ruled out France, Lebanon’s former colonial power.

The shortlist was finalised during talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials at the US embassy in Rome this week.

The discussions focused on implementing a June 26 agreement that links the phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon to Hezbollah’s disarmament, which would be “verified” by a third party.

“We have reached a short list of countries. We decided which parties were impossible for each and set the potential actors,” Times of Israel quoted the Lebanese official as saying.

“The Americans will now decide, and could pick more than one country,” the official added.

The development follows a report by Haaretz that the parties had prepared a shortlist but had not yet reached an agreement on its composition.

Hezbollah rejects disarmament

Hezbollah is not a signatory to the agreement and has so far refused to surrender its weapons, leaving the implementation of the US-backed arrangement dependent on negotiations between Lebanon, Israel and international partners.

Reuters said Israel’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to questions about the shortlist.

A US State Department spokesperson, when asked about the proposed countries, described the Rome discussions as “productive on the technical and expert levels” but declined to provide further details.

Private security firms rejected

According to the Lebanese official, Beirut had previously rejected a proposal to use private security companies to independently monitor or verify Hezbollah’s disarmament.

“All of the actors proposed are countries. We still need to discuss exactly how this would work, how many forces would be deployed and how they would work with the Lebanese army,” the official said.

The mechanism for the international presence, including its size and coordination with Lebanon’s military, remains to be worked out.

The next round of Lebanon-Israel talks is scheduled for early September, the official said.

With inputs from agencies