The US State Department announced Monday that pilot zone operations have begun in Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar Al-Gharbiya, according to Abu Ali Express. Two of the villages — Froun and Srifa — are located south of the Litani River and were not previously occupied by the IDF, meaning only the third village, Zawtar Al-Gharbiya north of the Litani, involves an actual withdrawal or redeployment, the outlet notes.
The US State Department announced Monday that pilot zone operations have begun in three southern Lebanon villages, with Abu Ali Express reporting at 16:27 that the villages are Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar Al-Gharbiya. Two of the villages — Froun and Srifa, both south of the Litani River — were not previously occupied by the IDF during its ground operation in southern Lebanon, meaning only the third village, Zawtar Al-Gharbiya north of the Litani, involves an actual IDF withdrawal or redeployment from territory it occupied. The report adds specificity to the US announcement, which the desk had been tracking since 16:05 Jerusalem, when multiple outlets first reported the start of pilot zone implementation.
The desk first reported at 16:05 that the US announced the start of pilot zones in three villages, initially citing Israeli journalist Barak Ravid (version 1–2), then the State Department directly (version 3), followed by reports from Israel Hayom (version 4), Ynet (version 5), and later Army Radio journalists Moriah Asraf and Doron Kadosh (version 6), who published a map identifying the villages. By 16:27, The Zioneer published a bulletin summarizing the US announcement. The new report by Abu Ali Express, based on the State Department, confirms the village names and clarifies the distinction regarding prior IDF control.
The pilot program is part of the trilateral framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon, a direct outcome of last week's Rome talks. As The Zioneer reported on Friday, the Lebanese army deployed in Froun on July 17, while the Zawtar area lies inside Israel's buffer zone, where IDF forces remain stationed pending withdrawal. The US has previously described the pilot as a key step in the broader withdrawal agreement.
The status of the remaining pilot zones and the timeline for full IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon remain unclear.
11 developments
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Source and signal
- Internal intake