Three farmers detained by Israel in Lebanon, village leader says

Three Lebanese farmers were detained by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, according to the head of their village. Issa Abedelaal told the BBC that Israeli troops phoned the three men on their mobile phones, ordered them to report to a location, and then detained and removed them. The incident followed an Israeli incursion into the village of Halta in Hasbaya province, an area of roughly 600 square kilometres that Israel continues to occupy. The detentions were reported to the US‑led International Monitoring and Implementation Mechanism, which coordinates information between Israel and Lebanon. The Israeli military has not responded to a request for comment. Several hours later, Israel released another Lebanese civilian who had been held in the country, describing it as the first known civilian release since US‑mediated talks between Israel and Lebanon began in April. Malek Ghazi was transferred to the Lebanese army by the International Committee of the Red Cross; Israel said four additional Lebanese civilians would be freed on Friday. More than 30 Lebanese remain believed to be in Israeli custody as negotiations between the two countries stall over a framework that calls for Hezbollah’s disarmament, an Israeli withdrawal, and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south. Ghazi was handed over at the Naqoura crossing before being taken to an army facility in Tyre for a medical examination. His family said he disappeared last October after leaving home to exercise. Israel’s prime minister’s office stated that the four other civilians slated for release on Friday had been questioned and found to have no ties to armed groups. Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed Ghazi’s release and thanked the United States for its role in securing it. He said the government would continue working for the release of all Lebanese detainees, for information on those still missing, and for a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. The detainee issue forms part of broader US‑mediated negotiations, which also include efforts to recover the remains of Lebanese Jewish community leaders abducted and killed during the civil war. The talks also cover a framework agreed in mid‑June, under which Hezbollah is expected to disarm, the Lebanese army to deploy in the south, and Israeli forces to withdraw gradually, beginning with designated “pilot zones”. Progress has been limited; Israel questions the role of the Lebanese army and disputes how compliance would be verified. Hezbollah rejects the talks and the pilot‑zone concept outright. The two sides have not yet set a date for the eighth round of talks. Israel has continued attacks in southern Lebanon, and officials say its military has been expanding its positions. Lebanese authorities reported that 11 people were killed in an Israeli aerial strike on the area in August. The Israel Defense Forces said at the time that it had killed a Hezbollah commander in the strike, following an attack on Israeli soldiers.