Who Will Monitor Hezbollah's Disarmament?

A Lebanese official said on Friday that Lebanon and Israel had reached a condensed list of countries nominated to send troops to southern Lebanon to verify Hezbollah's disarmament, under a U.S.-brokered agreement.

The official clarified that Washington will now select one or more countries from the list without disclosing the names or number of countries involved. Earlier, another Lebanese official and two foreign diplomats had reported that France was excluded from the list by a joint U.S.-Israeli decision.

The list was finalized during meetings held this week at the U.S. embassy in Rome, as part of the latest round of talks between Lebanon and Israel on implementing the June 26 agreement.

The agreement calls for a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah's disarmament, with the disarmament process subject to verification by a third party.

The Lebanese official said both sides identified countries that either side could not accept, along with those capable of playing a role in the verification process, adding that the final decision now lies with the United States, which may choose more than one country.

No comment has been issued yet by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the list.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of State described the talks as "productive at the technical and expert levels," without providing further details about the candidate countries or the selection mechanism.

It should be noted that Hezbollah is not a party to the agreement and continues to reject disarming.