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US President Donald Trump has said that leaders of Israel and Lebanon will speak on Thursday, after ambassadors of the two countries held a face-to-face meeting in Washington this week.
“Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon. It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday (late on Wednesday Washington time) without specifying who will be involved or offering further details.
US-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon took place in Washington on Tuesday. The meeting marked a rare instance of direct engagement between diplomats from the two countries outside a formal ceasefire mechanism process.
The meeting was held at the US Department of State. It was attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lebanese ambassador to the US Nada Moawad and Israeli ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter.
The State Department said that the US had expressed the hope that talks can exceed the scope of the 2024 ceasefire agreement, and that negotiations could “unlock significant reconstruction assistance and economic recovery for Lebanon and expand investment opportunities for both countries”.
Israel's cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss a possible ceasefire, Reuters reported quoting a senior Israeli official, more than six weeks into its war with Iran-backed Hezbollah. According to Lebanese officials, a ceasefire could be announced soon, the Financial Times reported.
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war on March 2 after Hezbollah launched a series of rocket attacks at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the end of February. Israel responded with force, killing least 2,000 people, according to Lebanese authorities.
