A new round of U.S.-mediated talks between Israel and Lebanon will convene in Rome in early September, with political discussions resuming in the Italian capital while technical talks continue in Beirut, Jerusalem and Washington, following a seventh round that ended without substantive progress.
The August 4–8 Rome session failed to advance any of the outstanding files, as Israel rejected expanding pilot zones and demanded the Lebanese army inspect roughly 40 percent of homes south of the Litani River. Israel also opposed the participation of Spain, France and UNIFIL in monitoring implementation of the framework agreement reached in June.
Domestic opposition has hardened, with the Amal Movement, Hezbollah, Walid Jumblatt and other Lebanese parties objecting to the framework and the trajectory of negotiations. Hezbollah, which rejected the security deal and refuses to disarm, had drawn Lebanon into a regional war through its March 2 attacks on Israel.