BEIRUT: Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned.
In a joint statement released after a fourth round of US -mediated talks at the State Department, the two sides said the ceasefire “is contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives” from areas south of the Litani River, which is roughly 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the northern Israel-Lebanon border.
It was not immediately clear how the security zones would be established but the agreement calls for the Lebanese army to take full control of those areas.
“These steps will enable progress towards a comprehensive peace and security agreement,” the statement said.
“All countries reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments. They rejected any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon’s future hostage.”
Hezbollah is not part of the Israel-Lebanon talks, which have been held at the ambassadorial level in Washington since the beginning of last month.
“All parties condemned Iran’s attacks on countries in the region, and ongoing activities that undermine stability throughout the Middle East, whether through support for proxies and all other acts of aggression,” the statement said.
A new round of discussions will be held during the week of June 22 with an eye toward “reaching a comprehensive agreement.”
Hostilities continue
Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump said he wanted to separate talks on the conflict in Lebanon and those on the war with Iran.
Tehran, however, insists the conflicts are linked and its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that any attack on Beirut would trigger a "full-scale resumption" of war.
The Israeli military said it intercepted a "hostile aircraft" and two projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon on Wednesday.
Hezbollah, for its part, said that "in response to the Israeli enemy army's violation of the ceasefire", its fighters targeted soldiers in northern Israel with a rocket barrage.
A truce to halt the fighting in Lebanon was meant to take hold on April 17, but has never been observed, with both sides justifying their ongoing attacks by the other's alleged violations.
Senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati had told AFP on Tuesday that the group would "not accept a partial ceasefire".
Paramedics
Among the Israeli strikes on Wednesday was one targeting a car on the main highway out of the capital, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said.
The NNA also reported strikes on more than 20 locations in the south, some after Israel's military warned residents of several villages to evacuate.
The health ministry said an Israeli attack on Al-Hawsh near the city of Tyre killed four Syrians and two Palestinians.
But an Israeli military spokesperson told AFP's Jerusalem bureau that "we are not aware of any such attack having occurred in the area".
The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli strike elsewhere in the south targeted an ambulance, killing two paramedics from the Risala Scouts Association, which is affiliated with Hezbollah's ally the Amal movement.
The ministry circulated images of a badly damaged ambulance, with medical masks spilling out of the vehicle and scattered on the road.
At least 130 emergency and health workers have been killed since the fighting began.
Lebanon's army said a soldier was also killed in an Israeli strike, while an officer and a soldier were wounded in a separate attack on a military vehicle.
The force denounced what it called Israel's "deliberate targeting of army personnel, vehicles and positions".
Petition
On Tuesday, Israel's military alleged that Hezbollah members were operating in Tyre's Christian quarter and said it would warn people to leave should the group remain there.
An AFP correspondent said the situation in Tyre was relatively calm on Wednesday morning, adding that some people who had been sleeping in cars or tents at the edge of the Christian quarter left for other parts of the city.
A petition calling for Tyre to be declared an "open city" free of any armed presence and urging Lebanon's military to deploy there has garnered more than 180 signatures, including local lawyers and intellectuals.
Hezbollah has a strong presence in Tyre, and some signatories have since been attacked on social media for their stance.
More than 200 people have signed a similar petition concerning Nabatieh, another large south Lebanon city that has come under Israeli attack.
Israel has recently escalated its attacks and is staging its deepest ground offensive into Lebanon in two decades.
