Hours before Lebanon and Israel were due to resume negotiations in the United States, the Israeli military on Tuesday accused the Lebanese army of failing to curb Hezbollah’s activities in southern Lebanon, in what a retired Lebanese brigadier general described to The New Arab as an attempt to heighten tensions ahead of the talks and put Lebanon on the defensive.
The Israeli military accused elements within the Lebanese army of allegedly coordinating with Hezbollah to obstruct the enforcement of security arrangements, reportedly allowing the group to anticipate operations and move weapons out of targeted areas. It said the Lebanese army had also failed to dismantle a Hezbollah military site in the south, despite announcing that it had taken the necessary measures there.
The Israeli military said that the Lebanese army was responsible for ensuring the full implementation of the security arrangements, saying it expected it to take more decisive and effective measures to prevent Hezbollah from maintaining weapons and military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese army has repeatedly asserted that Israel's continued occupation and repeated attacks in the south were hindering its efforts to extend state authority and bring weapons under exclusive state control.
Lebanon and Israel are due to hold technical military talks in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday, resuming discussions after the last round of talks in Rome in early August. An eighth round planned for September in the Italian capital did not take place.
The Lebanese delegation is expected to reiterate its demands for a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, which continues to come under daily Israeli attack despite a framework agreement signed in June.
Pressure on the Lebanese army
Retired Lebanese Brig. Gen. Bassam Yassin described the Israeli accusations as an attempt to undermine the talks and put the Lebanese army on the defensive.
"The intention is certainly to create tension around the negotiations and put the army in a position where it has to defend itself," Yassin told The New Arab.
He said the Lebanese delegation was expected to focus on technical issues, including the work of the ceasefire monitoring committee, locally known as the mechanism, and demands for an Israeli withdrawal.
The mechanism was established following the November 2024 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah.
"All this talk about the army’s failure does not reflect the major successes it achieved south of the Litani River in 2024 and 2025," Yassin said, questioning why the alleged violations had not been raised with the mechanism at the time.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it expected the Lebanese army to take "more decisive and effective action" to prevent Hezbollah from maintaining weapons and military infrastructure in the south.
It alleged that, despite the Lebanese army announcing in December 2025 that it had dealt with a Hezbollah facility in the southern town of Kafra, footage showed members of the group continuing to operate there and attempting to remove weapons from the site months later.
The Israeli military said its forces had subsequently struck and destroyed a truck carrying the weapons. It also accused members of the Lebanese army of coordinating with Hezbollah over enforcement operations, allowing the group to anticipate military activity and move weapons out of targeted areas.
Yassin rejected the suggestion that the Lebanese army was failing to carry out its responsibilities. While the Lebanese government has made dismantling Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and disbanding its armed wing in the south a stated objective, he argued that the army could not be expected to forcibly disarm the group while Israeli forces continued to occupy Lebanese territory and carry out attacks.
"Of course, the army is not going to dismantle Hezbollah’s weapons and infrastructure in the south right now. There is an occupation and aggression on your land. Can the army confront civilians and tell them: ‘I want to dismantle your defences’? That is impossible," he said.
Yassin maintained that the army had taken control of every Hezbollah site it had entered following the November 2024 ceasefire, and said Hezbollah had helped it access many of its former positions.
Some sites were empty when the army arrived, while others were discovered by chance or with the help of local residents, he said. Some of the people responsible for those sites had been killed during the 2024 war, he added, meaning information about their locations was no longer available.
Yassin said the Israeli military's publication of footage now was intended to undermine confidence in the Lebanese army and portray it as weak.
"If there is something old [still there], that does not mean the Israelis can release videos now. The intention is to confuse the Lebanese army and portray it as being in a weak position, when that is not the case," he said.
No progress on pilot zones
The talks are due to take place under US auspices against a backdrop of continued Israeli strikes and demolitions in southern Lebanon and growing concerns in Beirut about the consequences of a possible wider confrontation involving the United States, Israel and Iran.
A US official, in remarks carried by the US embassy in Beirut, said the meeting would be limited to working-level teams and focus exclusively on security issues within the tripartite framework signed by Lebanon and Israel in Washington on 26 June 2026.
Little progress has been made on the initial pilot areas announced under the arrangements this summer. Lebanese military sources told The New Arab that continued Israeli attacks were obstructing the army’s work in the areas and making the return of residents difficult and dangerous.
Beirut also rejects any direct coordination between the Lebanese and Israeli armies, despite pressure from Washington and Tel Aviv. Lebanon continues to pursue the diplomatic track, viewing it as the only viable option to end the conflict.
Fears of a more devastating war
Lebanese official sources told The New Arab that President Joseph Aoun was monitoring developments in the region and feared the consequences of any escalation for Lebanon. They said these concerns had also been raised by international officials and diplomats visiting Beirut, including Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy, who met Aoun on Monday.
The sources also expressed concern about Hezbollah’s increasingly confrontational position, warning that it could draw Lebanon into another war.
They said Lebanese officials were holding internal consultations through their advisers to convey their concerns and urged all sides to put Lebanon’s interests above external agendas.
The sources added that officials had received warnings that another war could have even more serious consequences than the previous rounds of fighting in October 2023 and March 2026.
Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging fire in October 2023, with the conflict escalating into a full-scale war in September 2024. Fighting resumed on 2 March 2026 following the start of the US-Israel war on Iran.
Although fighting largely subsided in June following the signing of the tripartite framework, Israel has continued attacks and demolitions in its so-called buffer zone in southern Lebanon, occupying strategic sites and destroying Hezbollah tunnels.
Israeli attacks over the past three years have killed 8,596 people and wounded more than 30,660 others, many of them civilians.