Israel confirms release of five Lebanese detainees, Israeli media reports

CAIRO (Reuters): Israel said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold talks to demarcate its border with Lebanon, adding it would release five Lebanese detainees held by the Israeli military in what it called a “gesture to the Lebanese president”.

A statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel had agreed with Lebanon, the U.S. and France to establish working groups to discuss the demarcation line between the two countries.

Though Israel has largely withdrawn from southern Lebanon under a ceasefire deal agreed in November, its troops continue to hold five hilltop positions in the area with airstrikes in southern Lebanon citing what it described as Hezbollah activity.

The ceasefire deal ended more than a year of conflict between Israel’s military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that was playing out in parallel with the Gaza war.

The fighting peaked in a major Israeli air and ground campaign that uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon and left the Iranian-backed Hezbollah badly weakened, with most of its military command killed in Israeli strikes.