Lebanon to Participate in Talks with Israel in Rome Next Week

SadaNews - A Lebanese official source reported to AFP on Saturday that Lebanon will participate in the scheduled talks next week with Israel in Rome.

This comes at a time when a U.S. military delegation is holding talks in Lebanon to discuss the mechanisms for the Israeli withdrawal from a "experimental" area in the south of the country.

The source stated that "Lebanon will participate," after a diplomatic source accompanying the negotiations reported earlier that Lebanon is conditioning its participation in the new round of negotiations on Israel withdrawing from two experimental areas in the south.

Earlier, a U.S. official stated that the United States has moved to the implementation phase of the general framework governing the understandings between Lebanon and Israel.

The official clarified in statements to "Sky News Arabia" that the upcoming meetings in Rome will be closed and "will mark the beginning of the transition from political understandings to practical implementation".

The Italian capital is preparing to host a new round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel on July 15 and 16, with U.S. mediation, to follow up on the implementation of the framework agreement that was announced at the end of June.

The U.S. official added that "the meetings in Rome will allow the two governments to refer the files to the technical teams, which will handle all the issues covered in the general framework, in preparation for the implementation of its provisions on the ground".