Four days of nonstop negotiations in Washington this week between the Israeli and Lebanese governments were propelled by "one clear shared interest: weakening the influence of Hezbollah and Iran in Lebanon," according to U.S., Israeli and Lebanese officials.

Hezbollah's leader has criticized a framework agreement that Israel and Lebanon have signed to end months of conflict between the Iran-backed group and Israel, raising concerns about its effectiveness.

The agreement signed Friday in Washington links Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon to Hezbollah's disarmament, something the group rejects.

Lebanon and Israel, under U.S. sponsorship, signed an agreement on Friday hoping to end hostilities between them, but experts say it does not guarantee Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and its implementation depends on Hezbollah and its backer Iran.

Lebanon took the historic step of negotiating directly with Israel despite them having no diplomatic relations, as a reaction to Tehran-backed Hezbollah drawing the country into the Middle East war on March 2.

Looking out from a friend's balcony, Milia el-Cheikh struggled to find her own home in the ruins of her now-deserted village, its entrances strung with barbed wire.

Her village of Dibbine is one of several Shiite-majority communities across southern Lebanon destroyed by Israeli forces battling Iran-backed Hezbollah. Israel has occupied vast areas and fighting has raged through declared ceasefires. The latest truce — part of the interim peace deal between the United States and Iran — appears to be holding.

Over the past two and a half years, Israel has taken control of swaths of Gaza, Lebanon and Syria that amount to its biggest expansion of militarily occupied lands in decades.

It is an area larger than many major cities — roughly 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) — and Israel has said it plans to stay indefinitely.

When Kamal Kamal heard a ceasefire deal had been agreed between Iran and the United States, he rushed back to the southern city of Nabatieh only to find an Israeli strike had reduced his life's work to rubble.

A deal between Washington and Tehran that ends the Israel-Hezbollah war leaves many issues in Lebanon unresolved, failing to mention Israel withdrawing from the country or an end to Tehran's support for the militant group.

The U.S.-Iran agreement to conclude the Middle East war is a significant strategic setback for Israel and underscores its waning influence in Washington, Israeli analysts said.

Although the accord, announced by Pakistan early Monday, remains incomplete and is expected to be finalized within 60 days, its preliminary framework has already raised concern in Israel.

As Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs last March and residents fled in panic, one man found his opportunity. Amid the chaos, he slipped out of his imprisonment in a Hezbollah cell and made his way to the green hills overlooking the Lebanese capital.

There, in the posh diplomatic quarter of Baabda, he disappeared inside the gates of the Ukrainian Embassy.

President Donald Trump's administration has sought -- with very limited success -- to separate Iran and Lebanon peace talks, while Tehran insists the two are linked, complicating efforts to resolve the intertwined conflicts.

The Iran war began with a joint U.S.-Israeli attack -- though the interests of those two countries' leaders have since diverged -- while Lebanese militant group Hezbollah struck Israel shortly thereafter, sparking a devastating Israeli military response.