ZAWTAR AL-GHARBIYEH, Lebanon: A US-brokered plan for Israel to withdraw gradually from occupied areas of southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia is off to a painfully slow start. To the US, the “pilot zone program” is the centerpiece of a June 26 framework deal intended to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, and establish peaceful ties between Israel and Lebanon. But Hezbollah itself still refuses to give up its weapons.

The Israeli army has handed so-called "pilot zones" back to the Lebanese, The move is meant to facilitate an end to fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, and to Israeli…

ZAWTAR AL-GHARBIYEH, Lebanon: A US-brokered plan for Israel to withdraw gradually from occupied areas of southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of the Iranian-backed…