Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors will meet next week in Washington, D.C. “to discuss ongoing developments and the continued implementation of the Trilateral Framework,” a U.S. State Department official said on Saturday.
The official described the framework agreement as “the only viable mechanism to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty and Israel’s security.”
The next round of formal discussions will take place in Rome in October, the official continued.
The combination of the United Nations General Assembly annual session in September, the Jewish High Holidays and Jordan’s King Abdullah’s LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces) Conference in Paris made it impractical to conduct the meeting in Rome next week as initially planned, a source familiar with the subject said.
Jerusalem and Beirut signed a U.S.-brokered framework agreement on June 26, aimed at disarming nongovernmental armed forces across Lebanon, as a path toward lasting peace between the two nations. Ongoing talks have focused on the technical steps to achieve this purpose, with pilot zones designated for deployment of the Lebanese army, to test its capacity to battle Hezbollah and dismantle terrorist infrastructure.
Meanwhile on Saturday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun visited the municipalities of Nabatieh and Zawtar al-Gharbiyah, situated in southeastern Lebanon, just north of the security zone controlled by Israel Defense Forces.
He stated that Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, the return of Lebanese prisoners and the displaced to their homes, and reconstructing areas devastated by the close to three years of war are “a single goal for all,” according to the Lebanese Presidency X account in Arabic.
He commended the “steadfastness” of the local residents, saying that remaining in their homes despite the war is the “greatest message to the world.”
Aoun visited the area with the state’s security apparatus to reaffirm Beirut’s standing with locals and the country’s southern territory, the Lebanese Presidency said.
رئيس الجمهورية في زيارة الى النبطية وزوطر الغربية:
— Lebanese Presidency (@LBpresidency) September 12, 2026
- صمودكم أكبر وسام على صدرنا وبقاؤكم هنا مع اهلكم رغم الحرب اكبر رسالة الى العالم مفادها ان هذا المجتمع وهذا الشعب قادر على النهوض مجددا والبقاء واقفا ابدا.
- أتينا الى هنا مع قادة الأجهزة الأمنية لكي نؤكد على وقوفنا الى جانبكم،… pic.twitter.com/O9DN5qTTSn
IDF destroys sprawling Hezbollah underground network
On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that the IDF destroyed a sprawling Hezbollah underground network under the Ali al-Taher Ridge in southeastern Lebanon—a few kilometers away from the Nabatieh area—completing the consolidation of the security zone along Israel’s northern border.
The strategic terrorist infrastructure, built over two decades with Iranian funding and planning, was intended to serve as a staging base for Hezbollah’s planned conquest of the Galilee, according to the joint statement.
The command center on the ridge provided Hezbollah with observation and fire control over the northern Israeli communities of Metula and Kiryat Shmona.
“Their destruction completes the achievement of operational control over the Ali al-Taher Ridge, above and below ground,” Netanyahu and Katz said.
According to an Israeli military official, the underground network consisted of eight routes with a combined length of more than 5,400 meters (17,700 feet).
