Lebanon PM Calls for Israeli Withdrawal07/22 06:18

   

   BEIRUT (AP) -- Lebanon's prime minister Wednesday visited a battered 
southern village as a Lebanese-Israeli agreement brokered by Washington appears 
to have started following a monthslong war.

   Nawaf Salam's appearance in Zawtar Al Gharbieh comes a day after President 
Joseph Aoun's landmark White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, 
who promised to back the Lebanese government in its bid to claim state control 
across the country.

   Lebanon and Israel in late June signed the agreement, which calls for the 
Lebanese military to deploy in areas in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah had a 
military presence and influence, and from where Israeli troops that have 
occupied dozens of villages would withdraw.

   Both sides later agreed on a pilot zone made up of a series of villages to 
test the implementation of the agreement. While Israeli troops have struck and 
conducted ground operations in those towns and villages, none of them are under 
their occupation, but the Lebanese army has also not been there in large 
numbers.

   The latest war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group started March 
2, after the group fired rockets toward Israel in solidarity with war-torn 
Iran, its main backer. In response, Israel launched an aerial campaign and 
ground invasion in Lebanon, killing more than 4,000 people and displacing 1.2 
million others.

   Lebanon's top political leadership criticized Hezbollah for dragging the 
country into another war, but also condemned Israel for its widespread bombing 
and ground invasion.

   Salam, alongside Lebanon's defense minister and senior military officials, 
pitched a Lebanese flag near a destroyed building in the town, vowing the 
government will start rebuilding destroyed homes and infrastructure.

   "We have insisted since the beginning that our goal is the complete Israeli 
withdrawal from all our territory," Salam said. "What we are seeing today is 
just the beginning, but we remain determined and steadfast, and will continue 
to mobilize all political and diplomatic efforts to secure a full withdrawal 
from all of Lebanese territory."

   The army did not immediately allow civilians to enter as they cleared 
unexploded ordinances. Residents tried to storm the barrier in a desperate bid 
to enter the village and check on their homes and properties.

   Hezbollah has condemned the government for holding direct talks with Israel 
and rejected the agreement, but the militant group has not tried to sabotage it 
through military means. Its leadership believes Israel cannot be pressured to 
withdraw its troops by diplomatic means only, and that Lebanon lacks the 
leverage of its key ally Iran in negotiations.

   Trump, in his meeting with Aoun, did not speak much about the pilot zone 
going into its implementation phase, but pledged to support Lebanon without 
going into details.

   Aoun and the Lebanese government have urged the international community to 
invest in the tiny country and its army to help rebuild its infrastructure and 
military capacity.