TEHRAN - The Lebanese government has been left at the “mercy” of the US and Israel after signing on to the Washington-brokered framework agreement, argues Ziad Abu Rish, an associate professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Bard College in New York.

He noted that Zawthar al-Gharbiya remains the only village Israeli forces have withdrawn from under the framework agreement and Israel has since publicly declared it is no longer interested in creating additional withdrawal zones, Al Jazeera reported.

The initial “pilot zones”, Abu Rish argued, were established as part of what “we could call the momentum of Lebanese-Israeli-US negotiations to undermine the US-Iran memorandum of understanding and its Lebanon clause”.

The first clause of the Iran-US framework agreement states:

“The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran and their allies in the current war are signing this MOU to declare the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and undertake from now on not to initiate any war or any military operation against each other, and to refrain from the threat or use of force against each other, and ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon.”

But Israel’s refusal to withdraw further caused negotiations with Lebanon to “end rather abruptly” in Rome this month.

Abu Rish went on to describe the agreement as “an attempt by a few personalities in the Lebanese government” – specifically President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji – to “align with the Israeli and US” position on Lebanon and “to portray Hezbollah as the problem”.

In doing so, “they have put all their eggs in the US-Israeli basket,” he said, and “have lost any leverage they have”.

“They are now at the mercy of the United States and Israel,” he said. “And what we’ve seen in Gaza, what we’ve seen in Syria and now what we’re seeing in Lebanon is that the United States has absolutely no interest in pressuring Israel to take corrective action for its belligerent invasion and occupation of Lebanese and other territories.”

11 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon in one of the deadliest days of attacks since an agreement aimed at reducing hostilities was announced in June.

Lebanon's prime minister said seven people were killed in a strike on a house on the outskirts of Ansar, 70km (43 miles) south of the capital, Beirut. Three children and two women were among the dead.

Later on Saturday, another round of strikes hit the town of Deir al-Zahrani, killing four and wounding five others, the Lebanese ministry of health said.