Region
US ambassador visits Lebanon army-held 'pilot zone' near Israel
The US ambassador to Lebanon on Tuesday visited a southern village that recently came under the control of the Lebanese army as part of a framework agreement with Israel.
The US-backed June agreement states that the Israeli military will withdraw from areas of south Lebanon it occupied in parallel with the deployment of the Lebanese army, starting with "pilot zones", under the condition that militant group Hezbollah disarms.
An AFP correspondent saw a convoy carrying the US envoy, Michel Issa, entering the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiya, where he visited a church, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA).
The news agency said an Israeli drone surveyed the area during the visit, reporting Israeli military vehicle movements in the neighbouring town.Israeli troops remain deployed in what it calls a "security zone", a stretch of Lebanese territory about 10 kilometres (six miles) deep along the border.