Lebanon will use a U.S.-sponsored military meeting with Israel in Florida this month to push for a new international force to replace U.N. peacekeepers, the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel and an expanded deployment of the Lebanese Army in areas still occupied by Israel, according to a ministerial source directly involved in the negotiations.

The Lebanese military delegation is expected to present the package at the meeting, tentatively scheduled for Oct. 20-22, although Washington has yet to formally confirm the dates.

The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Beirut would also press for Israel to withdraw from towns surrounding Beaufort Castle, known in Arabic as Shaqif Castle, allowing the Lebanese Army to deploy there.

Lebanon is seeking an international force backed by the U.N. Security Council to replace the U.N. peacekeeping mission UNIFIL when its mandate expires at the end of this year. The proposal would preserve an international presence in southern Lebanon to monitor efforts to secure an Israeli withdrawal while the Lebanese Army expands its deployment.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has been building support for the proposal during meetings in New York and Washington on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, the source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Salam, coordinating with President Joseph Aoun, wants the new force to operate alongside the Lebanese Army and reinforce the government's insistence that weapons be held exclusively by the state, in line with a Cabinet decision.

The source said this would leave Hezbollah facing a “courageous decision” on whether to cooperate with the process and give up its weapons.

Lebanon seeks army deployment in occupied areas

The Lebanese delegation will specifically raise the need for the army to deploy in towns around Beaufort Castle, the source said.

Israel had previously demanded that those towns be included in the Lebanese Army's deployment area south of the Litani River. The source said that demand was made before Hezbollah opened a military front following Israel's killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Lebanon will also raise Israel's continued bulldozing of towns inside the so-called “yellow line” and the systematic destruction of remaining homes there.

The source said the issue was particularly urgent because Israel has said it has completed the destruction of Hezbollah's infrastructure in the area. There was therefore no justification, he argued, for continuing to destroy towns or turn the area south of the Litani River into “scorched earth.”

The source said Hezbollah would be unable to block the Lebanese Army's deployment in the towns around Beaufort Castle after withdrawing from the Ali al-Taher hills, which are now under Israeli control.

He also pointed to what he described as growing support among the Shi'ite population for the return of state authority to the villages and for the deployment of the army in some of them.

That sentiment, combined with Hezbollah's commitment not to respond to Israeli violations and attacks, is putting additional pressure on the group, the source said.

In his view, the circumstances increasingly undermine Hezbollah's justification for retaining its weapons.

U.S. guarantees sought

Lebanon is also looking to Washington to expand the scope of the army's deployment into cities and villages that remain under Israeli occupation by pressing Israel to withdraw, the source said.

It wants the United States to use its influence to move an international “verification mechanism” beyond the political disputes surrounding its formation.

The mechanism would verify that Lebanese military units have deployed in the relevant areas and that they are free of Hezbollah weapons and fighters, according to the source.

Beirut is also seeking U.S. guarantees that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not target the highlands between Iqlim al-Tuffah and Al-Rihan Mount, the source said.

The request is linked to concerns that Netanyahu could seek control of those areas if he concludes that doing so would help him secure a Knesset majority and return to the premiership.

Fear of delays over Israeli election

Lebanon is pushing for the implementation of the “framework agreement” to move forward before Israel's Oct. 27 Knesset election rather than remain suspended until afterward.

The source said Beirut fears Netanyahu could deliberately delay implementation because keeping the southern Lebanon front active would allow him to present himself to Israeli voters as essential to protecting communities in northern Israel.

The Lebanese government is also concerned about being left in what the source described as a “deadly vacuum” while waiting for political developments in Israel and, later, the U.S. midterm elections.

The source questioned how Washington could simultaneously insist that the Lebanese track should not be tied to Iran while failing to exert sufficient pressure on Israel to halt the destruction of Lebanese towns.

The Israeli campaign, he said, has expanded beyond areas inside the yellow line to towns surrounding Beaufort Castle, along the front line north of the Litani River overlooking its southern bank.

Government seeks political and economic backing

The source warned that Lebanon's worsening economic and social conditions could further weaken the government but said Beirut now needed a stronger dose of political and economic support to confront Hezbollah and undermine its arguments for maintaining its weapons.

The proposed international force, expanded army deployment and verification mechanism are intended to strengthen state authority while creating conditions in which Hezbollah would face increasing pressure to surrender its weapons, according to the source.

Lebanon's position also puts the Florida meeting at the center of efforts to move beyond the stalled framework agreement rather than allow the country to remain dependent on a separate U.S.-Iranian “memorandum of understanding.”

That memorandum remains hostage to an exchange of threats between Washington and Tehran, despite repeated statements by U.S. President Donald Trump that the Lebanese track should not be linked to Iran.