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Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has projected a positive outlook following the latest round of Lebanon-Israel meetings in Rome this week, even as the Israeli military keeps up its barrage of strikes.
During a cabinet session on Friday, Aoun said the talks covered the ceasefire, the demolition and bulldozing of homes, borders, prisoner exchanges and “pilot zones”, according to a statement from the Lebanese presidency.
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He pointed to “positive progress” on borders and prisoners and said he was hopeful “that practical steps will soon emerge”, the statement added.
The president also highlighted his meetings last month with United States President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, telling the cabinet that the US administration understood Lebanon’s situation.
Aoun’s comments echoed those of the US State Department, which characterised the discussions as “fruitful” and said Lebanon and Israel are “much closer to reaching an agreement on advancing and expanding the pilot zones process”.
But on the ground in Lebanon, displaced families have expressed mounting frustration with Israel’s refusal to abide by the June 26 “framework agreement“.
On Friday, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported a series of new Israeli attacks, including one that wounded a Lebanese soldier.
Early morning artillery shelling targeted the town of Meiss el-Jabal, which coincided with machinegun fire towards the town, while Israeli drones flew over Beirut and its suburbs.
Israel’s army later targeted a team of water utility workers in Bint Jbeil as they repaired the local water network, NNA reported, and caused an explosion near a mosque in Zawtar al-Sharqiyah.
The Lebanese army said a soldier was “slightly injured” following an Israeli attack on an army bulldozer in al-Mansouri, Tyre, as it worked to open roads and remove rubble, according to NNA.
Tyre came under attack on Wednesday, when Israeli air raids and shelling wounded at least eight people.
The Israeli military also issued a forced displacement order for the town of al-Mansouri, despite residents lamenting that it was outside Israel’s occupation zone.
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