Overview
- Lebanese and Israeli negotiators produced a shortlist of sovereign states that could deploy troops to verify Hezbollah’s disarmament, with the United States set to select from that list.
- Two diplomatic sources and Lebanese officials said the United States and Israel ruled out France for the verification role, though the shortlist’s members were not publicly named.
- Hezbollah is not part of the U.S.‑brokered agreement and has refused to surrender its weapons, leaving verification and withdrawals contingent on a process the group rejects.
- Talks in Rome did not settle the next specific withdrawal area proposed by Beirut, which had suggested the towns of Bint Jbeil and Khiam, and negotiators set a further technical round for early September.
- Officials said Lebanon rejected using private security firms and that planners are weighing housing verification troops under UNIFIL or another U.N. mechanism, a move that would likely require a new U.N. Security Council resolution and shape whether foreign forces can deploy.