Lebanon and Israel have ended the sixth round of US negotiations Israel attacks Lebanon News

A US official said the two sides had made progress on a proposal for Israel to withdraw from an ‘airport’ in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese and Israeli officials have ended some US talks, which are looking at a plan to establish an “airport” in southern Lebanon from which Israeli forces will begin to withdraw.

The two-day diplomatic talks in Rome ended on Wednesday, with the US president calling for meetings “beneficial and positive”.

“We agreed on the plan and guidelines for the operation of the pilot areas, to be completed and used in the coming days,” said the head of the United States government in a statement sent to the press.

Under US-brokered June 26 policy agreementIsraeli forces have withdrawn from large areas of occupied southern Lebanon in an effort to disarm the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

The union had to do it start with a two-part flight where the Israeli army must hand over control to the Lebanese army, which will clear all of Hezbollah’s territories.

Wednesday’s statement did not specify where the pilot areas would be. German news agency dpa quoted the government as saying the areas in question include the towns of Zawtar al-Gharbiyah, Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, al-Ghandouriyah, Burj Qalawiyah, Sarifa and Frun.

‘The most important moment’

Neither Israel nor Lebanon has commented on the status of the latest talks. But a United States official said that the talks will go to the technical side to implement the agreement and reach a “full agreement” between the two countries.

Sami Halabi, director of policy at the think tank Badil: Alternative Policy Institute, said the airstrikes will test Israel’s willingness to leave Lebanon, the US’s influence over Israel and the Lebanese army’s ability to reestablish its presence.

“We have reached a point where Lebanon is transitioning from its sovereignty to testing its sovereignty through these pilot stations,” Halabi told Al Jazeera.

The latest Israeli-Lebanon talks are the sixth round of face-to-face talks since the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2.

Direct negotiations have continued though Israel’s dangers in Lebanon and strong opposition from Hezbollah, which rejects disarmament and says that only pressure from its ally Iran can secure an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal.

More than 4,000 Lebanese have been killed and more than a million displaced by Israel’s war in Lebanon since March, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

At least 32 Israeli soldiers and four Israeli civilians have been killed by Hezbollah, most of them in southern Lebanon, since Israel began its offensive.

Halabi said recent talks and the June 26 agreement have led to a reduction in violence, but progress remains unstable and “could collapse at any time”.

“The best-case scenario is that they will launch a stable and credible process” where Israeli forces withdraw from southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army takes over, he said. “We are in a very important moment that is very difficult, and any miss can lead us to a big conflict.”