Iran war live: Sirens in Bahrain, Kuwait; US ‘disables’ Iranian oil tanker

By Heidi PettReporting from Beirut, LebanonThe talks [between Israel and Lebanon in Rome] are historic. But the outcome – still a bit unclear.This is the sixth round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel mediated by the United States.The president here [in Lebanon] told his delegation before they took off to Rome that they should be discussing the immediate Israeli withdrawal from the pilot zone before anything else. On Wednesday, he was making positive noises, saying that the Americans were listening to them.The Israelis for their part, say that the pilot zones have been agreed upon and that there is a desire to implement them quickly, echoing what a US State Department told Al Jazeera – that the talks were fruitful and the framework agreement and the pilot zones would be implemented in the coming days.Now these pilot zones are areas where the Israeli military is supposed to withdraw. The Lebanese army then deploys and frees the area of Hezbollah weapons.But there are two problems. Firstly, the zones currently being discussed are not really under Israeli control. Their troops are not present on the ground. Instead, they’re controlling these areas from the air with fire.Secondly, they are reportedly demanding to be directly involved in verifying afterwards that the Lebanese army really has cleared these areas. The Lebanese army doesn’t want to work directly with the Israelis. Now that has spurred concern for many here in Lebanon. They fear that any kind of hiccup could delay the withdrawal or that it doesn’t happen at all.