Israel and Lebanon signed a framework agreement at the U.S. State Department on Thursday under which Israeli forces will withdraw from two small areas of southern Lebanon and transfer them to the Lebanese army, CNN reported. It is the most concrete step toward de-escalation since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah reignited in 2023.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who hosted the signing, called it "the beginning of the beginning," according to Euronews — language that captured both the diplomatic achievement and how much remains unresolved. Israel's ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, and Lebanon's ambassador, Nada Hamadeh, signed alongside him.
Two "pilot" zones
The core of the deal is the launch of two pilot projects: areas in southern Lebanon that Israeli troops currently occupy will be vacated and handed to the Lebanese Armed Forces, with the understanding that Hezbollah will be kept out. The specific boundaries were not publicly detailed.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cast the agreement as a win for Israel, stressing that it allows his forces to remain across much of the territory they hold in southern Lebanon for as long as Hezbollah is not disarmed. "The most important thing, first and foremost, is that Israel will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon," he said. Israeli officials emphasized that any further withdrawal will be tied not to a fixed calendar but to measurable progress on disarming Hezbollah — a condition that effectively lets Israel control the pace.
Washington's framework
Rubio framed the agreement as a structured path toward restoring Lebanese sovereignty, disarming Hezbollah and eventually allowing Israel to return to its borders. The United States announced humanitarian assistance for Lebanon and additional support for the Lebanese army to help it hold the pilot zones, Al Jazeera reported. A joint U.S.-Israel-Lebanon military coordination arrangement is to oversee implementation on the ground.
Hezbollah rejects it
Hezbollah, which was not part of the negotiations, condemned the deal. Hassan Fadlallah, a lawmaker aligned with the group, warned that Lebanese authorities would have to "fight a civil war" to enforce its disarmament provisions, and the group's leadership demanded an unconditional Israeli withdrawal. The rejection underscores the central tension in the agreement: its success depends on the Lebanese army filling space the Israeli military vacates, in the face of an armed movement determined to show that it cannot.
What is left unsettled
The framework is explicit about its limits. A full Israeli withdrawal remains conditional on Hezbollah's disarmament, for which there is no firm timeline. The return of displaced residents to border villages is still on hold. And a permanent peace between two countries that have never signed one is deferred to negotiations not yet scheduled. "There is a lot of work ahead," Rubio acknowledged. Whether this marks a turning point or a pause depends largely on whether, in practice, the Lebanese army can hold what Israel leaves behind.
