The Lebanese army began taking charge of security in three villages in southern Lebanon on Monday, marking the first on-the-ground test of a trilateral framework agreement signed by Lebanon, Israel, and the United States on 26 June. The US State Department confirmed that operations had started in the designated "pilot zones" of Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar al-Gharbiya, under the auspices of what Washington calls the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott described the step as a direct outcome of talks held between Israeli and Lebanese delegations in Rome last week.

The framework, brokered by Washington, envisions a phased Israeli withdrawal from positions it has held in southern Lebanon since escalating its military campaign against Hezbollah in March, in which more than 4,300 people have been killed. In exchange, the Lebanese Armed Forces are to assume sole security control of vacated areas and certify that they have been cleared of Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure. The pilot zones are intended to trial the approach in a small number of villages straddling the Litani River — the waterway that has long served as a benchmark boundary in international resolutions on Lebanon — before any wider expansion. A US official said the zones represent "an opportunity for the Lebanese state to begin to reassert real control in areas historically dominated by Hezbollah."

However, the launch of the plan has already generated controversy on the ground. Lebanese security sources, including a military official speaking to international media, confirmed that Israeli forces had never actually occupied Froun or Ghandouriyeh, a neighbouring village believed to be part of a second phase. Locals in those villages share that frustration: Mohammed Nader, head of Ghandouriyeh's municipal council — a village where 250 of its 260 homes are fully or partially destroyed — rejected the framing outright, saying Israel was "selling empty walnut shells" by designating as a concession territory it never held. Israeli forces are, however, present on the outskirts of Zawtar al-Gharbiya, where Lebanese army deployment is pending Israel's withdrawal.

Hezbollah has rejected the framework entirely, insisting that any arrangement on Lebanese territory must be linked to broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran. The group has not publicly stated whether it will resist implementation in the designated areas. Israel, for its part, has vowed that its forces will remain in a "security zone" approximately ten kilometres deep along the frontier for as long as Hezbollah remains armed. The agreement sets no timetable for a full Israeli withdrawal, and Israel continues to carry out occasional strikes and detonations in villages it occupies near the border.

Despite the disputes over the plan's scope, dozens of displaced residents have begun returning to villages like Froun, drawn home even amid rubble, and with no water, electricity, or phone service restored. Lebanese army patrols, along with Spanish-led UN peacekeeping forces operating under UNIFIL — the longstanding United Nations mission deployed south of the Litani, whose mandate is due to expire by year's end — have been visible in the area. The diplomatic backdrop is significant: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday, with the extension of Lebanese state authority expected to top the agenda.