Israel in talks with Lebanon to demarcate border, Netanyahu says

JERUSALEM

Israel has begun negotiations with Lebanon to demarcate their border and withdraw from five outposts in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday evening.

The declaration followed a four-way meeting in Naqoura involving representatives from the Israeli military, the US, France, and Lebanon, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

The statement said the Naqoura talks resulted in an agreement to form “three joint working groups” aimed at stabilizing the region.

These groups will focus on key issues, including the Israeli withdrawal from five points in south Lebanon, as well as revisiting the original pre-war land border between Israel and Lebanon, the statement detailed.

The negotiations will also address “the release of saboteurs detained since the war began and held in Israel,” the statement noted.

“In coordination with the US and as a gesture to the new Lebanese president, Israel agreed to release five Lebanese detainees,” the statement added.

Later in the evening, the Red Cross received five Lebanese detainees from Israel, weeks after their capture by the Israeli military during the recent war, state news agency NNA reported.

The detainees set free were then transported to the Lebanese Italian Hospital in Tyre, a city in southern Lebanon.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in Lebanon since Nov. 27, ending months of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah that escalated into a full-scale conflict last September.

Under the ceasefire deal, Israel was supposed to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon by Jan. 26, but the deadline was extended to Feb. 18 after Israel refused to comply. It still maintains a military presence at five border outposts.

Lebanese authorities have reported nearly 1,100 Israeli violations of the ceasefire, including the deaths of at least 85 people and injuries to more than 280 others.