Shafaq News- Washington

Lebanon and Israel signed a US-mediated framework agreement in Washington on Friday that, for the first time, sets out a phased path toward an eventual Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, while tying any pullback to the disarmament of Hezbollah. The accord, formally a trilateral document, was signed by the two countries' ambassadors and a US official and announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who called it the "beginning of the beginning."

What Was Signed

The agreement capped four days of talks at the State Department, the fifth round of US-mediated negotiations between two states that hold no diplomatic relations and remain formally at war. It was signed by Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad, and US State Department Counselor Daniel Holler, making Washington a party to the deal. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese armed movement at the center of the conflict, was not involved and has rejected the talks.

No full text of the operational terms has been published. The most authoritative source is the framework released by the US State Department, supplemented by details briefed separately by Israeli, US, and Lebanese officials.

The Mechanism: Disarmament First

Under the State Department text, the two governments committed to a sequenced process in which the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) would restore state authority across Lebanese territory, pending the verified disarmament of non-state armed groups, before the Israeli Army progressively redeploying out of the country. The order is the crux: disarmament precedes withdrawal.

At the center are two initial pilot zones, to be handed to the Lebanese army once armed groups are disarmed and their infrastructure dismantled, after which reconstruction would begin and residents could return, according to the State Department.

: US-Iran ceasefire deal leaves Lebanon without guarantees

The two zones were set on the Israeli Army's recommendation. PM Benjamin Netanyahu and US Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said, one south of the Litani River and one to its north, part of the latter inside a belt Israel seized in the final weeks of fighting and now says it does not need. Lebanese authorities did not comment on the issue.

Israeli officials said the agreement carries no fixed timetable. The framework also provides for mutual recognition of sovereignty, a US-supported military coordination group, and a declaration by Israel that it holds no territorial ambitions in Lebanon, per the State Department text. The Trump administration committed to releasing $100 million in humanitarian aid right away, in coordination with the United Nations, and to reimbursing the Lebanese Armed Forces $30 million to support what it called an "enduring peace."

Where Israel Stands On The Ground

The framework leaves Israel in place for now. In mid-April, the army declared a Gaza-style "Yellow Line" buffer across the south, bringing 55 villages into a closed zone off-limits to returning residents, with five divisions and naval forces deployed; Israel occupies roughly one-fifth of Lebanon, all in the south, and has pushed in places toward the Litani, about 30 kilometers from the border. Israeli Defense Minister and other far-right officials, such as Security Minister Itmar Bin Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, stressed that there would be no withdrawal from the Yellow Line until Hezbollah is disarmed, and that the military would keep freedom of action inside the zone.

The Three-Way Reaction

Netanyahu called the deal a major achievement and said that Israel would remain in its security zone until Hezbollah disarms.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun thanked the US administration and framed it as a step toward restoring full sovereignty and the return of residents; Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said it aims to secure an Israeli withdrawal from all Lebanese territory and to extend state authority through the army.

Hezbollah rejected it outright, with Secretary-General Naim Qassem demanding an unconditional Israeli withdrawal and ruling out normalization, while the group’s lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah warned that enforcing the deal could push Lebanon toward "civil war." The group maintains it is obliged to disarm only south of the Litani under the November 2024 agreement.

The Parallel Iran Track

Running alongside is a separate US–Iran channel. President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding electronically on June 17, committing both sides to end hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, and to respect Lebanese sovereignty. At talks in Switzerland on June 21–22, the two agreed on a 60-day roadmap and created a Lebanon de-confliction cell facilitated by Qatar and Pakistan. Tehran had made a ceasefire in Lebanon one of its red lines, according to Iranian officials. Beirut insists the two tracks are separate and that Lebanon alone negotiates with Israel, but welcomed the initiative.

The Human Toll And The Reconstruction Lever

The Lebanon front opened on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel after the United States and Israel killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on February 28; Israeli ground operations followed on March 16, displacing more than one million Lebanese from southern Lebanon, Beqaa, and Beirut suburbs according to the UN estimates.

: Beirut’s southern suburb empties overnight: Stories of displacement under fire

The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health put the cumulative toll of the war at 4,230 people killed and 12,179 wounded between March 2 and June 25. The same data showed that Israeli operations also crippled much of the south's medical infrastructure, with 17 hospitals and 39 health centers out of service, damaged 175 ambulances, and recorded 176 attacks on healthcare and first-response teams. Medical and nursing personnel were among those killed and wounded. The damage extended to the education sector, where Israeli operations destroyed and damaged educational institutions across the south, according to Lebanese authorities.

: Israel's war fell on Christians and Shiites in Southern Lebanon with no distinction

At least 37 Israeli soldiers have been killed, and some 60,000 residents of northern Israel were displaced in the earlier phase of the conflict. At least eight Lebanese have been detained by Israeli troops since March, according to Lebanese media; the Israeli Army says they were suspected of militant activity.

Reconstruction is both a promise and a pressure point. The framework conditions are rebuilding on verified disarmament and bars funds from reaching armed groups; a UNDP and CNRS assessment put direct building damage in the south at about $1.38 billion, with more than 11,000 buildings destroyed, a figure that predates the latest weeks of fighting. The United States and Saudi Arabia has signaled they will not allow or finance reconstruction before Hezbollah disarms, a shift from 2006, when Gulf states rebuilt southern towns.

What Remains Unsettled

Based on the agreement, which is not officially released yet, there is no timetable, no map or date for a full withdrawal, and no signature from Hezbollah, whose disarmament the entire sequence depends on. The Israeli army assesses that the group still holds thousands of rockets, and Hezbollah has vowed to keep its arms and block implementation.

: Ceasefire without sovereignty: how Lebanon's fragmented power blocks a peace with Israel

Verification and enforcement are to be detailed in a forthcoming security annex. Rubio framed the agreement as a first step, but on the same day, Israeli strikes in the south killed at least two people, a reminder of how fragile the arrangement remains.