US envoy says Israeli forces begin withdrawal from 2nd south Lebanon town

US special envoy Amos Hochstein met Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut.

The visiting US envoy said Israeli forces began withdrawing Monday from a south Lebanon border town more than halfway into a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

It is the second such pullout since a November 27 ceasefire, and came after United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanon's prime minister late last month had called on the Israeli army to speed up its withdrawal from Lebanon's south.

On his first visit to Lebanon since the truce he helped broker came into effect, Hochstein also urged political consensus in Lebanon ahead of a presidential vote later this week.

Lebanon has been without a president for more than two years amid bitter divisions between Hezbollah and its opponents.