American, Lebanese, and Israeli delegations are set to begin a new round of direct Israel-Lebanon talks in Rome on Tuesday.

Lebanon views the deployment of the Lebanese Army in the first pilot zone as a success and hopes to expand the deployment into additional areas from which the IDF would subsequently withdraw.

The US and Israel, however, have yet to issue a full assessment of the Lebanese Army’s performance, particularly its ability to prevent Hezbollah terrorists from returning to those pilot areas. That evaluation is expected to play a decisive role in determining whether further Lebanese deployments will be approved. The guiding principle remains unchanged: successful implementation by Lebanon will be matched by phased Israeli withdrawals under the established “step-by-step” framework.

According to Al Arabiya, the Lebanese Army has met U.S. and Israeli demands and has avoided repeating what was described as last year’s failure south of the Litani River, when Lebanese forces failed to locate Hezbollah weapons caches while the terror group continued to smuggle in new equipment.

Meanwhile, Lebanon has stepped up security measures at Beirut International Airport and tightened inspections at its seaports to prevent weapons smuggling from Iran. The Lebanon-Syria border, however, remains a major concern. U.S. assessments indicate that Iran’s and Hezbollah’s presence in Syria, combined with the porous border, continues to facilitate large-scale weapons smuggling.

In an apparent effort to address those concerns ahead of the talks, the Lebanese Army released photos on Tuesday morning showing rockets it said it intercepted along the Syrian border before they could be delivered to Hezbollah.

Another complex humanitarian issue expected to be discussed is the fate of prisoners, detainees, missing persons, and the remains of those killed. Lebanon is demanding the release of Hezbollah terrorists imprisoned in Israel, as well as the return of the bodies of Hezbollah members killed in clashes with the IDF.

Israel, for its part, is presenting information regarding Lebanese Jews who were abducted in Beirut during the 1980s civil war, murdered, and whose bodies were hidden, alongside others who disappeared during the years 1975–1991.

The list of Jews abducted in Beirut during the 1980s includes Lebanese Jewish community leader Yitzchak Sasson, community secretary Salim Jammous, four members of one family, and members of several other families. Most disappeared in West Beirut when groups such as Amal and Hezbollah controlled the area.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)