Israel and Lebanon on Thursday wrapped up a third day of US-mediated negotiations in Washington without an agreement on a partial Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, though the sides agreed to extend talks for an extra day, an Israeli embassy spokesperson told The Times of Israel, with negotiators to reconvene Friday at the State Department

The fifth round was supposed to wrap up Thursday at the State Department, with the US hoping it would culminate with the signing of a framework agreement that would include Israel partially withdrawing from small areas of its large buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Israeli troops would then be replaced by members of the Lebanese Armed Forces.

The areas were this changing of the guard are planned for have been dubbed “pilot zones.” An Israeli source argued that it could barely be called a withdrawal because the IDF would still be maintaining its six mile-deep buffer zone in southern Lebanon and only pulling back from areas that it already cleared of Hezbollah infrastructure.

In some cases, the IDF has gone about clearing that infrastructure by razing entire Lebanese villages along the Israeli border to the ground, arguing that Hezbollah was using much of them to plan and carry out attacks against Israel.

Despite the lack of an agreement between Israel and Lebanon, a source familiar with the talks told The Times of Israel that the sides made progress on Thursday after a rocky first two days.

Both Israel and Lebanon came into what was the fifth round of negotiations furious at the US for the latter’s decision to sign a deal with Iran last week that included a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Jerusalem and Beirut argued that the memorandum of understanding undercut a key element of their direct talks, which the US specifically established to try and prevent Iran from having a say on affairs in Lebanon.

The US conduct led Israel to initially harden its position in talks with Lebanon this week, significantly limiting the areas from southern Lebanon from which it said it was prepared to withdraw, the source said.

Lebanon, meanwhile, felt........

© The Times of Israel