A United States military delegation arrived in Beirut on Saturday and opened meetings with the Lebanese army command to establish the mechanisms for Israel’s withdrawal from a first “pilot zone” in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese military sources. The move marks the initial operational step under the trilateral framework agreement signed by Lebanon, Israel and the US on 26 June. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the first pilot zone would be launched “in a matter of days” and that additional zones were being mapped. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) will coordinate the process with both countries, the official added, while the visiting team’s role is confined to logistics and technical survey work, without any combat function.

Viewed from Washington, the deployment of the military team signals a transition from political understandings to field implementation. US officials have described the Rome talks, scheduled for 15–16 July, as the moment when governments will hand files to technical teams to address all issues in the framework. Lebanon had conditioned its participation in the Rome round on an Israeli withdrawal from two pilot zones, a demand that, according to Lebanese diplomatic sources, the US has been pressing Israel to meet in order to give momentum to the negotiations. The Lebanese delegation to Rome will include two ambassadors and a retired brigadier who has followed previous rounds from the presidency’s operations room.

Israeli officials have not set a timetable for a full withdrawal and have stated that forces will remain in a security zone up to ten kilometres deep as long as Hezbollah retains its arms. Hezbollah’s leadership has rejected the framework agreement, describing it as a surrender of Lebanese sovereignty that legitimises occupation and links withdrawal to the disarmament of the resistance. The framework itself does not specify a calendar for the Israeli pullback, and intermittent Israeli strikes have continued in the south despite a ceasefire that took effect on 21 June. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA reported on Saturday that over 732,000 displaced people have returned home, while more than 430,000 remain displaced.

International diplomatic activity around the dossier has intensified. Qatar’s minister of state is expected in Beirut early next week carrying a comprehensive vision for ending the war, coordinated with Washington, Riyadh, Ankara and Islamabad. Germany and France have announced a joint initiative to push for peace in Lebanon, and Oman is mediating between Washington and Tehran on arrangements for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. President Joseph Aoun is due to visit Washington later in July at the invitation of President Donald Trump. The Rome talks and the pilot-zone mechanism will test whether the framework can bridge the gap between Israel’s insistence on Hezbollah’s disarmament and the absence of a domestic Lebanese consensus on the question of arms.