Israel is seeking to impose conditions on which Lebanese army officers and soldiers can deploy in proposed “experimental zones” in southern Lebanon and is insisting on a mechanism that would allow homes and private property to be searched for Hezbollah weapons, according to Lebanese political sources familiar with the negotiations.

The demands are emerging as Lebanon and Israel work to revive a U.S.-backed plan for the experimental zones, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam raising the proposal during a Sept. 28 meeting in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The United States has backed the idea and expressed readiness to help implement it, the sources told Erem News.

Israel wants names before deployment

According to the Lebanese sources, Israel is demanding that Lebanon provide in advance a list of the officers and soldiers the Lebanese army plans to deploy in the experimental zones.

The stated purpose would be to ensure that none of the personnel are considered to have close ties to Hezbollah, the sources said.

Israel may seek to go further by demanding that Shiite officers and soldiers be excluded from some units assigned to the mission, according to the sources.

The Lebanese army rejects that condition, they said, arguing that the selection and deployment of its personnel are matters for the military command and that any outside role in those decisions would interfere with the army’s structure.

The issue is expected to feature in U.S.-backed efforts to convene a Lebanese-Israeli military meeting in Tampa, Florida, in the second half of October.

Recent Lebanese reports have said the meeting will focus on the future of the experimental zones and how the proposed system could be implemented. Other sources have put the possible date at around Oct. 20, although no final date has been set.

Dispute over searches of private property

The more difficult issue in the negotiations, according to the Lebanese sources, is whether and how homes and other private properties can be searched.

Israel argues that declaring an area free of Hezbollah weapons cannot be based solely on the removal of visible military installations and weapons depots. It also wants to be able to verify that weapons have not been moved into private homes, farms or warehouses, the sources said.

That demand has raised legal questions in Lebanon.

In July, a proposal was discussed to give the army a blanket judicial authorization to search properties inside the experimental zones. But Judge Ahmad Rami Al-Hajj, Lebanon’s chief prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, denied that any such authorization had been issued.

A different mechanism was subsequently discussed under which the army would report suspected properties to the judiciary and obtain authorization to search each property on a case-by-case basis rather than receive a blanket warrant.

The Lebanese army has maintained that it will confiscate weapons whenever they are found, the sources said, but will not conduct house-to-house searches. Entering a private residence requires judicial authorization even when the property is located inside an experimental zone, they said.

The army command said on Sept. 9 that it had searched a number of homes “in accordance with Lebanese laws and with the consent of their owners,” underscoring the legal constraints governing such operations.

Israel seeks broader coordination

The sources said Israel is also continuing to seek direct security and military coordination with the Lebanese army.

Under the Israeli proposal, that coordination could extend to managing some security arrangements in southern Lebanon through a joint coordination room, according to the sources.

The Lebanese army rejects any arrangement that would give Israel a role in directing its operations or selecting its personnel, they said.

The disagreement therefore extends beyond the practical question of how the experimental zones would operate and touches on the limits of Israeli involvement in Lebanese military and security decisions.

Military researcher and analyst Mohammad Youssef Al-Nour told Erem News that the dispute ultimately concerned the rules governing the Lebanese military itself.

“If Israel wants to see the names of Lebanese officers and soldiers in advance, or wants a say in their backgrounds or sectarian affiliation, then we are moving beyond security arrangements along the border and into the structure of a sovereign Lebanese institution,” Al-Nour said.

The Lebanese army is a national institution, he said, and its leadership could not accept Israel determining who serves in southern Lebanon.

Al-Nour acknowledged that weapons stored on private property present a genuine challenge for any plan aimed at placing weapons under state control. But he said any effort to locate and seize such weapons should be carried out through Lebanese decisions and under Lebanese law, rather than through conditions imposed by Israel.

The planned meeting in Florida could therefore become an important test of how the verification mechanism will work in practice, Al-Nour said.

“The question is whether the mechanism will help the army implement the decisions of the Lebanese state, or whether it will become a means of Israeli oversight of the army itself,” he said.