The first units of the Lebanese Army began redeploying to southern Lebanon this morning following the withdrawal of the Israeli military from the town of Zaoutar al-Gharbiyeh.

A senior representative of Lebanon’s security authorities told Reuters today that Israel withdrew its forces under the agreements reached in Washington at the end of June.

“The Lebanese government hopes that, in the near future, the country’s army will be able to deploy throughout the entire area of the ‘buffer zone’ established by Israel,” Reuters reported.