Lebanese army soldiers deploy at the entrance to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh in southern Lebanon after Israeli forces withdrew under a US-brokered plan. (Reuters)
US embassy delegation visits ‘safe zone’ in southern Lebanon
Note: AI technology was used to generate this article’s audio.
- This comes amid ‘Israeli’ airstrikes early Tuesday on south Lebanon.
A delegation from the US Embassy in Beirut has visited the town of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh in southern Lebanon, inspecting one of the "pilot zones" set up under the US-brokered framework agreement between ‘Israel’ and Lebanon, Al Jazeera reported.
Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh sits in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon. Since July, it has been designated one of three "pilot zone" villages, alongside Froun and Srifa, under the trilateral framework agreement signed by ‘Israel’, Lebanon and the United States on June 26, 2026.
Inside the zone, the town is guarded by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), which deployed there after ‘Israeli’ troops withdrew from the town center in late July.
But the "safe zone" designation only extends so far. ‘Israeli’ forces and tanks remain positioned just to the east, on the outskirts of the town and in neighboring Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh (East Zawtar), close enough that residents describe the two Zawtars, which share a school and a main road, as effectively a single village artificially split by the front line of the agreement.
Read more: ‘Israel’ weighs troop redeployment in southern Lebanon
