Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s meetings in Washington focused on efforts to revive negotiations with Israel, arrangements to replace the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon and mechanisms for expanding the Lebanese army’s deployment, Lebanese sources said.

Salam is expected to return to Beirut from Washington after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and officials from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

A Lebanese source familiar with the meetings told Asharq Al-Awsat that the talks were part of an effort to strengthen Lebanese-U.S. contacts and keep Lebanon on the U.S. administration’s agenda, with the aim of accelerating financial reforms required by the government and securing support to ease the country’s mounting cost-of-living pressures.

The source said the government was also watching preparations by labor unions to take to the streets over rising prices, a concern affecting most Lebanese.

The meeting with Rubio covered several issues, including arrangements to replace the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is due to end its mandate at the end of this year.

Salam also sought U.S. pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent Israel from expanding its security zone to include highlands between Iqlim al-Tuffah and Mount Rihan, the source said.

The talks also addressed efforts to resume the eighth round of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations, which Beirut wants to prevent from being postponed until after Israel’s Oct. 27 Knesset elections.

The two sides also discussed establishing a mechanism to verify the Lebanese army’s deployment in an expanded “pilot zone,” including villages and towns currently occupied by Israel, and to verify that the area is free of Hezbollah weapons and fighters.

Lebanon is also seeking to ensure that the army’s deployment and Israel’s withdrawal proceed in parallel, the source said.

U.S. pushes for eighth round of talks

A senior Lebanese official familiar with Salam’s meetings told Asharq Al-Awsat that the U.S. administration was making intensive efforts to create the conditions for the eighth round of negotiations.

The talks would take place at the Lebanese-Israeli military level under U.S. sponsorship, with former ambassador Simon Karam, head of Lebanon’s negotiating delegation, expected to attend.

The round is expected to be held in Florida in the second half of October, about a week before Israel’s elections. Washington is consulting with Israel to finalize a date, with Oct. 20 emerging as the likely option, the official said.

Talks on UNIFIL replacement advance

Discussions over a replacement for UNIFIL have also made significant progress, although the alternative force has not yet been finalized and further consultations are needed, the source said.

Lebanon insists that any European force deployed in place of UNIFIL receive U.N. backing and the support of European Union countries.

Beirut also wants the mechanism for verifying the army’s deployment and the expansion of the pilot zone kept separate from political disputes, allowing the army to gradually deploy in towns from which Israeli forces withdraw.

Lebanon has asked Washington to pressure Netanyahu against expanding the security zone, while acknowledging concerns over whether the Israeli prime minister can be relied upon to maintain the current situation.

Keeping the status quo through Israel’s elections could make a later expansion more difficult for Netanyahu politically, the source said, because he would no longer be able to use such a move as part of his election campaign.

The United States also remains committed to keeping Beirut and its southern suburbs, including Rafic Hariri International Airport, outside the conflict in southern Lebanon, the source said. Washington is also seeking to reduce attacks on predominantly Shiite villages in the Bekaa Valley.

Lebanon insists on state control of weapons

According to the source, Salam and Rubio agreed on the need to activate the Framework Agreement in order to remove what Hezbollah cites as justification for retaining its weapons.

Strengthening Lebanon’s position would weaken those arguments and increase pressure on Hezbollah among its supporters, the source said.

Hezbollah supporters have repeatedly questioned why the group has continued to observe the ceasefire and refrained from responding to Israeli violations and attacks, even as its Secretary-General Naim Qassem has warned that there will be no return to the situation that existed before March 2.

The source linked that warning to Hezbollah’s launch of six missiles in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Lebanon, the source said, remains committed to the Framework Agreement and to placing all weapons under state control.

Beirut also insists that the Lebanese track remain separate from Iran and rejects any effort to tie it to an Iranian-U.S. memorandum of understanding whose implementation remains stalled and has been accompanied by exchanges of threats between the two sides.

For Beirut, the source said, the priority remains advancing the Framework Agreement, strengthening state authority and maintaining a separate Lebanese negotiating track as discussions with Israel resume.