Military delegations from the United States and Lebanon met in Beirut to work out how to implement the first phase of a US-brokered framework agreement aimed at an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Lebanese sources told Al Jazeera that the talks centered on establishing a mechanism for the first of two so-called “pilot zones” outlined in the agreement.

This is the part that matters: the framework does not lay out a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal, so the “mechanism” becomes the practical question of who does what, when, and how that will be verified. The US delegation arriving in Beirut for discussions has also been reported by Lebanese media and the Financial Times, and US ambassador Michel Issa told President Joseph Aoun on Thursday that the US delegation was coming to “determine the mechanism” for implementing the deal.

Under the framework agreement reached on June 26, Israel will gradually withdraw from areas of southern Lebanon where it has deployed troops to fight Hezbollah. As part of that approach, the long-disempowered Lebanese military is reported to take full control of two small areas dubbed “pilot zones.” In other words, it is not just a reshuffling of forces. It is a governance and control handoff, from Israeli troop deployments to Lebanese state forces, starting with the first pilot zone.

The reason the mechanism is being treated like a headline deliverable is because the political and security constraints are tight. The agreement has been rejected by Hezbollah, and Israeli officials have vowed their forces will remain in a “security zone” 10km (six miles) deep as long as Hezbollah remains armed. That means negotiations are happening in a contested environment where one of the key stakeholders has already signaled it does not accept the framework, and where “withdrawal” is paired with a continuing security footprint.

In the background, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett reported from Lebanon that Hezbollah prefers to maintain a ceasefire between the US and Iran, rather than engage in direct talks between Lebanon and Israel. Pett added that even though the broader ceasefire broke down this week, Hezbollah has “held its fire” in Lebanon. That distinction matters for how investors, analysts, and governments read the situation: even amid flare-ups, some parties may still be choosing restraint, which can affect whether pilot-zone implementation is seen as feasible or stalled.

Second-order implications show up in how displacement and humanitarian conditions are trending alongside the diplomacy. The war began in early March after the US and Israel attacked Iran, and it has displaced more than a million people in Lebanon, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. OCHA said on Saturday that more than 732,000 people had returned home, up from 640,000 a week ago, leaving about 430,000 still displaced. The pilot-zone concept is, in effect, one of the levers governments can pull to try to create conditions for returns, but without a timetable for withdrawal and with continued reports of raids, the path from talks to safe ground is not automatic.

Reports from the ground illustrate that reality. Israel continued attacks despite the ceasefire, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA). NNA reported several raids in the south on Saturday, including residential neighbourhoods in the town of al-Mansouri in Tyre district where seven people were injured. It also said Israeli forces used three tanks and several bulldozers to advance into the eastern edge of Beit Yahoun, and that in Houla Israeli forces ignited fires damaging homes and olive trees. NNA added that Israeli forces blew up homes in Nabatieh district. Even if these incidents do not directly determine the terms of the mechanism, they shape the urgency and the credibility of any implementation plan.

Operationally, the negotiations appear to be moving to the next stage quickly. The latest talks between Lebanon and Israel, which have no formal relations but have met for five rounds of negotiations since the start of the war, will be in Rome next Wednesday and Thursday. Lebanon conditions its participation on Israel withdrawing from two pilot zones. Those conditions, combined with the unresolved question of timetable and Hezbollah’s rejection, suggest that the mechanism being hammered out in Beirut could be the difference between a framework that stays theoretical and one that becomes measurable on the ground.

Finally, the diplomatic calendar hints at a wider negotiation push. The talks precede President Joseph Aoun’s expected visit to Washington later this month at the invitation of his US counterpart, Donald Trump. For decision-makers watching similar tracks, this is the strategic tell: when a deal lacks a timetable, “how” becomes the battlefield. The first pilot zone, and the mechanism behind it, will likely influence whether stakeholders can translate agreement language into controlled, verifiable steps that everyone can live with.