Netanyahu says Israel and Lebanon to form working groups to resolve border disputes
Israel said on Tuesday that it had agreed to release five captive Lebanese citizens as a goodwill gesture to Lebanon’s “new president” Joseph Aoun.
"In coordination with the United States and as a gesture to Lebanon's new president, Israel has agreed to release five Lebanese detainees," a statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu's office said that the decision came following a meeting held earlier in the day in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura that included representatives of the Israeli army, the United States, France and Lebanon.
"During the meeting, it was agreed to establish three joint working groups aimed at stabilizing the region," the prime minister's statement said.
"These groups will focus on the five points controlled by Israel in southern Lebanon, discussions on the Blue Line and remaining disputed areas, and the issue of Lebanese detainees held by Israel," the statement added.
The Blue Line is the U.N.-patrolled demarcation line that has marked the Israel-Lebanon border since 2000.
On November 27, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a U.S.-French mediated truce that largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war in which Israel sent in ground troops.
While the ceasefire continues to hold, Israel has periodically carried out air strikes on Lebanese territory, it says to prevent Hezbollah from rearming or returning to the territory along its northern border.
The ceasefire required Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Israel had been due to withdraw completely from Lebanese territory by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but decided to keep troops at five locations it deemed strategic.
Source: Agence France Presse
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