Lebanon and Israel hold talks in Rome amid renewed Mideast fighting

BEIRUT: Lebanon and Israel are holding new negotiations under US auspices in Rome on Tuesday (Jul 14), against the backdrop of a regional escalation between Washington and Tehran.The two countries, officially at war for decades, reached a framework agreement on Jun 26, after five rounds of negotiations in Washington, aimed at ending the war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah and paving the way for peace.But Hezbollah rejects the agreement, which calls for the group's disarmament and whose implementation is set to begin with Israeli withdrawal from two "pilot zones" in southern Lebanon.The Lebanese presidency announced on Monday that its delegation to Rome had been instructed "to demand the immediate start of Israeli forces' withdrawal from the two pilot zones before any further discu