Lebanese and Israeli delegations opened their seventh round of direct negotiations in Rome on Tuesday, aiming to advance implementation of a June framework agreement while tensions persist over Israeli troop withdrawals and Hezbollah's tunnel network.
Technical teams will focus on executing the framework deal brokered by Washington after five earlier rounds. Lebanon demands successive Israeli pullbacks leading to a full withdrawal and rejects any Israeli role in evaluating its army's mission, proposing third-party verification through UNIFIL or another international body. Israel says its forces will remain in a roughly 10-kilometre buffer zone in southern Lebanon as long as Hezbollah remains armed.
The tunnel system built by Hezbollah over decades is expected to be a central topic. The Israeli military used approximately 700 tonnes of explosives to destroy tunnels near Beaufort Castle in one of the heaviest demolition waves since the June ceasefire. Hezbollah refuses to surrender its weapons or accept the direct negotiations and their outcomes.