Lebanon wants so-called pilot areas in buffer zone along the border with Israel; Israel rejects idea. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Lebanon wants so-called pilot areas in buffer zone along the border with Israel; Israel rejects idea. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

BEIRUT, June 25 - Senior Israeli and Lebanese officials denied on Thursday that there had been any Israeli withdrawal from occupied southern Lebanon, after a U.S. official said Israel had pulled some troops back in a good faith gesture toward Lebanon's government. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Israel has said that it had set no timetable for withdrawing its forces from Lebanon, Gaza and Syria, as Israeli and Lebanese officials engaged in US-brokered talks in Washington.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said "we must remain in the security zone in Lebanon, in Syria and in Gaza, and not for a limited time, in order to defend our residents and communities from there against jihadist elements."

BEIRUT, June 25 - Israel has withdrawn from some of the southern Lebanese territory it has occupied in its war with Hezbollah, a U.S. State Department official said on Thursday, adding that Lebanon's armed forces should now step in. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.