Lebanon announces date for next round of talks with Israel

President Joseph Aoun reiterates only security issues are on negotiation table

Rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble at the site of an Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese village of Jbaa. AFP

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has announced that a new round of direct talks will be held with Israel this month, reiterating that only security issues will be discussed in the civilian-led negotiations.

He said reaction to the first round of talks on Wednesday was generally "positive" and the direct dialogue between Israeli and Lebanese civilian representatives, the first in decades, was aimed at avoiding a "second war".

"It is natural that the first session would not be highly productive, but it paved the way for upcoming sessions that will begin on the 19th of this month," Mr Aoun told a cabinet session on Thursday evening.

He warned that there was "need for the language of negotiation, not the language of war, to prevail" and that there would be no concession over Lebanon's sovereignty.

"There is no other option but negotiation. This is the reality, and this is what history has taught us about wars," Mr Aoun said. “The directives are to focus strictly on security negotiations, stopping the attacks, withdrawing from occupied points, demarcating the borders and securing the release of prisoners. Nothing beyond that is on the table."

On Friday, Mr Aoun was expected to receive members of the UN Security Council and US special envoy Morgan Ortagus. He said he would urge them to help the talks with Israel succeed.

His comments came as Israel struck hit southern Lebanon on Thursday, with its military saying it was attacking Hezbollah weapons storage sites.

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Mr Aoun said a UN delegation would head to southern Lebanon to check "the situation on the ground and see the real picture of what is happening there", while the army continues its work to implement the plan to dismantle Hezbollah's weapons.

Wednesday's talks, which Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said were agreed to in the hope of “defusing tension”, marked the first direct civilian dialogue between Lebanon and Israel in decades.

The talks were held during a meeting of the US-run ceasefire monitoring body. Military officers have previously represented the two countries at meetings on operational matters. But the latest effort hints at the possibility of wider talks on calming the tension behind last year's destructive war in Lebanon.