Lebanese-Israeli military hold talks on border

Lebanese, Israeli and UN officers have met on the border to discuss the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the war-ravaged region, a UN spokesman said.

The meeting, the first involving a Lebanese army officer and a counterpart from the Israeli army since Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, marks the first step in the process of military disengagement as demanded by a UN Security Council resolution.

Milos Strugar, of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, said the commander of the 2,000-member peacekeeping contingent, French Major General Alain Pellegrini, met with a senior Israeli and a Lebanese army officer at midday (9am Irish time) at the UN position on the border crossing on the Mediterranean coast at Ras Naqoura.

The meeting, which came four hours after a UN-imposed ceasefire in the 34-day Hezbollah-Israel conflict, was “to discuss implementation of and compliance with the agreement”, Strugar said.

The officers “also discussed the withdrawal of the Israeli army and the deployment of the Lebanese army forces in the south”, said the spokesman.