{"id":129066,"date":"2026-07-09T11:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T06:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=129066"},"modified":"2026-07-09T11:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T06:19:07","slug":"lebanon-links-rome-talks-with-israeli-forces-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon links Rome talks with Israeli forces\u2019 withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BEIRUT\/ANKARA(National Times)-  Lebanon has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2013935\/lebanon-to-attend-rome-talks-only-if-israel-withdraws-from-2-pilot-zones-diplomatic-source\">demanded\u00a0<\/a>Israel\u2019s withdrawal from two \u201cpilot zones\u201d in the south before participating in the next round of direct talks in Rome, a diplomatic source told\u00a0<em>AFP<\/em>\u00a0on Wednesday while US President Donald Trump was optimistic about the withdrawal despite Israeli comments indicating otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The source, requesting anonymity, said \u201cLebanon is stipulating Israel\u2019s withdrawal from two pilot zones in order to participate in the round of negotiations\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Italy\u2019s foreign ministry had announced that Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors were due to hold direct talks in Rome on July 15 and 16, after several rounds of discussions in Washington aimed at de-escalation. \u201cWe welcome with pleasure the announcement that the next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon mediated by the US will take place in Rome,\u201d Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun was invited to the US on July 21, a White House official told Reuters. The invitation comes at a time when President Trump told reporters in Ankara that he hoped that Israel would withdraw troops from southern Lebanon because \u201cit wanted to\u201d take that step, despite comments from Tel Aviv indicating otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump told reporters he had&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2013904\/trump-says-he-thinks-israel-will-withdraw-troops-from-southern-lebanon\">discussed<\/a>&nbsp;a withdrawal with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. \u201cYeah, I think they\u2019re going to. I think they want to,\u201d Trump said. \u201cSo we have a deal with Israel and Lebanon. Yeah, they\u2019ll leave. And I think it\u2019s going to work out very well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2018Help with Lebanon, Hezbollah\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the other hand, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2013992\/us-to-remove-syria-from-terror-blacklist\">&nbsp;met<\/a>&nbsp;the US president on the sidelines of the Nato summit where Trump told reporters that he believed Syria \u201ccould help with Hezbollah and Lebanon\u201d, without elaborating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah because, to be honest with you, I think they\u2019d do a better job of doing it,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BEIRUT\/ANKARA(National Times)- Lebanon has\u00a0demanded\u00a0Israel\u2019s withdrawal from two \u201cpilot zones\u201d in the south before participating in the next round of direct talks in Rome, a diplomatic source told\u00a0AFP\u00a0on Wednesday while US President Donald Trump was optimistic about the withdrawal despite Israeli comments indicating otherwise. The source, requesting anonymity, said \u201cLebanon is stipulating Israel\u2019s withdrawal from two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lebanon links Rome talks with Israeli forces\u2019 withdrawal - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lebanon links Rome talks with Israeli forces\u2019 withdrawal - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BEIRUT\/ANKARA(National Times)- Lebanon has\u00a0demanded\u00a0Israel\u2019s withdrawal from two \u201cpilot zones\u201d in the south before participating in the next round of direct talks in Rome, a diplomatic source told\u00a0AFP\u00a0on Wednesday while US President Donald Trump was optimistic about the withdrawal despite Israeli comments indicating otherwise. The source, requesting anonymity, said \u201cLebanon is stipulating Israel\u2019s withdrawal from two [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-09T06:19:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-09T06:19:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-11.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/\",\"name\":\"Lebanon links Rome talks with Israeli forces\u2019 withdrawal - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-11.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-09T06:19:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-09T06:19:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-11.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-11.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lebanon links Rome talks with Israeli forces\u2019 withdrawal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lebanon links Rome talks with Israeli forces\u2019 withdrawal - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lebanon links Rome talks with Israeli forces\u2019 withdrawal - Nation","og_description":"BEIRUT\/ANKARA(National Times)- Lebanon has\u00a0demanded\u00a0Israel\u2019s withdrawal from two \u201cpilot zones\u201d in the south before participating in the next round of direct talks in Rome, a diplomatic source told\u00a0AFP\u00a0on Wednesday while US President Donald Trump was optimistic about the withdrawal despite Israeli comments indicating otherwise. The source, requesting anonymity, said \u201cLebanon is stipulating Israel\u2019s withdrawal from two [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/","og_site_name":"Nation","article_published_time":"2026-07-09T06:19:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-09T06:19:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":670,"height":370,"url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-11.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"humza Jahangir","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"humza Jahangir","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/","name":"Lebanon links Rome talks with Israeli forces\u2019 withdrawal - Nation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-11.png","datePublished":"2026-07-09T06:19:06+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-09T06:19:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-11.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-11.png","width":670,"height":370},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129066\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lebanon links Rome talks with Israeli forces\u2019 withdrawal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/","name":"Nation","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16","name":"humza Jahangir","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"humza Jahangir"},"url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129068,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129066\/revisions\/129068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}