Lebanon and Israel have agreed on a shortlist of countries that could send personnel to independently verify Hezbollah’s disarmament under a US-brokered agreement, according to a report by The Times of Israel, which cited a Lebanese official. Washington will now choose the countries that could take part in the proposed verification force.

The Lebanese official did not reveal the names of the countries on the shortlist. The official also did not say how many countries were included. The shortlist was finalised during talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials at the US embassy in Rome this week.

The discussions focused on implementing a June 26 agreement that links the phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon to the disarmament of Hezbollah. The agreement calls for a third party to verify whether Hezbollah has surrendered its weapons.

“We have reached a short list of countries. We decided which parties were impossible for each and set the potential actors,” Times of Israel quoted the Lebanese official as saying.

“The Americans will now decide, and could pick more than one country,” the official added.

The development follows a report by Haaretz, which said Lebanon and Israel had prepared a shortlist but had not yet reached an agreement on which countries should be included. Earlier Reuters reporting, which cited another Lebanese official and two foreign diplomats, said Israel and the United States had ruled out France from the possible verification role. France was Lebanon’s former colonial power.

The proposed verification mechanism remains closely linked to the wider implementation of the US-backed agreement. Hezbollah, however, is not a signatory to the deal and has rejected calls to surrender its weapons. The group’s position leaves the implementation of the arrangement dependent on negotiations between Lebanon, Israel and international partners.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters questions about the shortlist. A US State Department spokesperson also declined to provide details about the countries under consideration. The spokesperson described the Rome discussions as “productive on the technical and expert levels”.

Lebanon has also rejected the idea of using private security companies to monitor or independently verify Hezbollah’s disarmament. According to the Lebanese official, Beirut wants countries to carry out the proposed role instead of private firms.

“All of the actors proposed are countries. We still need to discuss exactly how this would work, how many forces would be deployed and how they would work with the Lebanese army,” the official said.

The size and structure of the international presence have not yet been decided. Lebanon, Israel and their international partners still need to determine how many personnel would be deployed and how they would coordinate with the Lebanese army. They also need to finalise the exact process for verifying Hezbollah’s disarmament.

The proposed international role comes as Lebanon and Israel continue talks on the implementation of the June 26 agreement. The deal seeks to link Israel’s phased military withdrawal from Lebanon with progress on Hezbollah’s disarmament. The verification mechanism is expected to provide an independent assessment of whether the terms related to Hezbollah’s weapons have been met.

The next round of Lebanon-Israel talks is scheduled for early September, according to the Lebanese official. Washington is expected to make the final decision on which countries could participate in the verification mechanism. It could choose more than one country. However, several details, including the size of the force, its responsibilities and its coordination with the Lebanese military, remain unresolved.