Israel began withdrawing from the Lebanese town of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh on Tuesday as part of a framework agreement with Lebanon that links its full withdrawal to Hezbollah’s verifiable disarmament, with the U.S. overseeing implementation. Lebanese army troops deployed in the town of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh in the Nabatieh region after the IDF withdrew from the area on Tuesday.

The deployment in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh was the first of several pilot zones Israel is to evacuate under a framework agreement reached with Lebanon in late June. The Trilateral Framework outlines a 'four-step model' for the pilot zones, including the designation of the area, verification of clearance, phased redeployment of Israeli forces, and the assumption of sole control by the Lebanese Armed Forces, as detailed in the security annex. Under the agreement, Israel will withdraw from territory captured to establish a buffer zone only after Hezbollah has been verifiably removed from those areas.

The agreement establishes a permanent security framework linking Israeli withdrawal to Hezbollah’s disarmament. The security annex of the agreement outlines the establishment of a 24/7 Military Coordination Group for Lebanon (MCG4L) to oversee deconfliction, verification, and implementation of the security framework, with direct reporting lines to political authorities in both Israel and Lebanon. The United States is responsible for overseeing implementation and verification of the agreement. The framework agreement was reached under American auspices.

The agreement resulted from five rounds of direct political negotiations between Israel and Lebanon. These were the first direct political negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in more than 40 years. The United States State Department has previously conducted over 100 military-to-military coordination meetings between Israeli and Lebanese forces since 2020, aimed at reducing cross-border incidents and improving communication.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Trump described the arrangement as “a great agreement” and said Israel was already “in the process” of redeploying its forces. He praised the agreement with Israel as “a great step forward.” Trump said he fully trusts the LAF and the leadership of the LAF.

Aoun dismissed suggestions that the agreement required parliamentary approval, saying it was a constitutional prerogative of the presidency. “We are committed to it,” Aoun declared. He described the Lebanese Armed Forces as “the backbone of security and stability.” Aoun said he had asked the American president for continued political backing and support for the Lebanese Armed Forces. He warned that without a strong Lebanese army, “everything will collapse.”

LAF Commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal warned that the army lacks the resources needed to implement the mission of dismantling Hezbollah. The Lebanese Armed Forces is made up of Sunni, Christian and Shi’a soldiers. Haykal warned that attempting to forcibly dismantle Hezbollah could place an enormous strain on the army and risk reopening Lebanon’s internal sectarian fault lines. In 2023, the Lebanese Army suffered a major defeat in the Bekaa Valley when a large cache of Iranian-manufactured missiles and drones were uncovered, showing the military's limited capacity to counter non-state actors like Hezbollah.

In 2014, the Lebanese Army and Israel engaged in a brief border confrontation near the town of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, which resulted in casualties on both sides and showed the region's volatile security dynamics. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 200,000 people were displaced in southern Lebanon due to Israeli military operations between 2006 and 2014, a figure that reflects the region's history of conflict and displacement. Israel is a country in West Asia that was established in 1948.

The withdrawal from Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh marks the first physical step in a security architecture that ties Israeli military presence to the disarmament of Hezbollah, a process monitored by the United States. The agreement creates a mechanism for sustained engagement between two nations that had not held direct political talks in more than four decades, with a dedicated coordination group tasked with verifying compliance.

The success of the framework depends on the capacity of the Lebanese Armed Forces to assume control of evacuated zones and enforce the removal of Hezbollah assets. Military leaders have publicly cited resource constraints and the risk of internal sectarian strain as significant challenges to implementing the disarmament mandate, while political leaders have affirmed their commitment to the process under presidential authority.