Lebanon’s prime minister Wednesday visited a battered southern village as a Lebanese-Israeli agreement brokered by Washington appears to have started following a months-long war.
Nawaf Salam’s appearance in Zawtar Al Gharbieh comes a day after President Joseph Aoun’s landmark White House meeting with US President Donald Trump, who promised to back the Lebanese government in its bid to claim state control across the country.
Lebanon and Israel in late June signed the agreement, which calls for the Lebanese military to deploy in areas in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah had influence, and from where Israeli troops that have occupied dozens of villages would withdraw.
Both sides later agreed on a pilot zone made up of a series of villages to test the implementation of the agreement. While Israeli troops have struck and conducted ground operations in those towns and villages, none of them are under their occupation, but the Lebanese army has also not been there in large numbers.
