Wars 2023 10/08 Monitoring the Israel and Lebanon War

[Saif]

https://www.newagebd.net/post/middle-east/306616/hezbollah-buries-dozens-of-fighters-in-south-lebanon

Hezbollah buries dozens of fighters in south Lebanon
Agence France-Presse . Majdal Selm, Lebanon 18 July, 2026, 21:17

A man waving a Hezbollah flag walks over open graves near a portrait of a Hezbollah fighter killed during clashes with the Israeli army drive during a mass funeral in the southern Lebanese village of Majdel Selm on July 18, 2026. | AFP photo

Hezbollah held a mass funeral for dozens of people, most of them fighters killed in the most recent fighting with Israel, in southern Lebanon’s Majdal Selm on Saturday.

The Iran-backed Shia group, which drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by attacking Israel on March 2, does not reveal the number of fighters it has lost.

But it has organised several funerals during the current lull in fighting, which followed the June 17 signing of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding.

In the heavily-damaged village, Hezbollah buried 44 people, 39 of them fighters and four civilians said to have been killed in Israeli operations, and one man who died of natural causes.

An AFP correspondent saw trucks carrying the coffins to the burial site as weeping women held portraits of the dead and of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli strikes on Tehran in February.

Many Lebanese have been unable to bury their loved ones in their home towns while the fighting was still raging.

Shia Muslim rites provide for temporary burial when circumstances prevent a proper funeral or the deceased cannot be buried where they wished.

‘You are invited to participate in the blessed funeral of Majdal Selm’s martyrs,’ read an announcement to Hezbollah’s supporters, with the names of the dead.

A previous announcement widely shared online had 129 names, but the Majdal Selm municipality dismissed the figure as ‘inaccurate and baseless’.

The funeral took place as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun headed to Washington where he is expected to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump following the latest round of Israel-Lebanon talks, which wrapped up earlier this week. Politics(Right)

Israel and Lebanon began US-sponsored negotiations in April aimed at reaching a peace deal and permanently ending the Israel-Hezbollah war.

On June 26, they reached a framework agreement in Washington under which the Israeli military is to withdraw from southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army is to deploy, starting with two ‘pilot zones’.

The agreement is contingent on the disarmament of Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which has flatly rejected both the deal and the negotiations.​

 

[Saif]

https://www.newagebd.net/post/middle-east/306893/lebanon-army-begins-taking-over-southern-pilot-zones

Lebanon army begins taking over southern pilot zones
Agence France-Presse . Washington 20 July, 2026, 22:46

A deal to secure an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah faced its first test on the ground Monday, as the Lebanese army began taking charge of security in three southern villages, Washington said.

The United States said operations had started in ‘pilot zones’ in Froun, Srifa and Zawtar al-Gharbiya ‘in accordance with the Trilateral Framework and under the auspices of the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon.’

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott described the step as ‘a direct outcome’ of talks held between Israeli and Lebanese delegations in Rome last week, adding that Washington would keep working with both sides ‘to implement the framework to a successful conclusion.’

The framework, signed by Lebanon, Israel and the United States on June 26 after several rounds of direct negotiations, envisions a phased Israeli pullback from positions in south Lebanon.

In exchange, the Lebanese Armed Forces are to assume sole security control of vacated areas and certify that they have been cleared of Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure.

The pilot zones are intended to trial the approach in a handful of villages straddling the Litani River before it is extended to other areas.

But the agreement, rejected by Hezbollah, does not set a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal.

Israeli officials have also vowed that their forces will remain in a ‘security zone’ 10 kilometres deep along the frontier for as long as Hezbollah remains armed.

Lebanon and Israel, which have no formal relations, started negotiations after Iran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the broader Middle East war by attacking Israel in March.

A Lebanese military source said that troops had begun intensifying patrols in several villages adjacent to areas occupied by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, including Froun.

The framework agreement was reached following a fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Israel still launches occasional strikes in southern Lebanon and carries out detonations in villages it occupies near the border.

The talks in Rome came ahead of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s planned meeting with president Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday.​