US-brokered peace talks between Israel and Lebanon took place in Washington on Tuesday, with the sides holding "productive discussions" on steps towards direct negotiations, the State Department said.
The meeting was the first major high-level engagement between the governments of Israel and Lebanon since 1993.
The State Department said in a statement 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 expressed its support for disarming all non-state actors and its commitment to working with Lebanon to achieve that.
Lebanon, meanwhile, reaffirmed the urgent need for the cessation of hostilities announcement of November 2024 to be properly enacted, and underscored the principles of territorial integrity and full state sovereignty.
"All sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue," the statement said.
The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the US, as well as Washington's envoy to Lebanon participated in the talks, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
An informed source speaking to The National ahead of the talks described them as a “preparatory meeting” to discuss issues including the agenda and location for negotiations. The source that the next meeting could take place in Cyprus, Rome or Paris.
The main goal for the Lebanese side is a ceasefire, with the source expressing hopes of a two to four-week truce to allow for negotiations to take place in a “more quiet mood”.
Following the talks, Israeli ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter told Sky News that Lebanon and Israel were on the "same side of the equation".
"That's the most positive thing we could have come away with," he said. "We are both united in liberating Lebanon from an occupation, a power dominated by Iran called Hezbollah."
The talks came after the US and Iran agreed a ceasefire last week. Israel also agreed to stop attacking Iran, but continued to strike targets in Lebanon that it says are linked to militant group Hezbollah.
Following the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the end of February, Hezbollah launched a series of rocket attacks at Israel. Israel responded with force, and at least 1,500 people have been killed, according to Lebanese authorities.
The Israeli strikes on Lebanon threatened to scupper the fragile ceasefire, with Iran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic unless the attacks halted. Iran reopening the strait is a central stipulation of the ceasefire with the US. The US and Israel have declared Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire agreement.
“Let's see if the Americans will be able to reason with the Israelis,” a senior Lebanese official told The National before the talks. “But I can't see us sitting around negotiating while the war continues unabated, while villages are destroyed and people are displaced.”
The Lebanese negotiating mandate, the official said, is singular: a ceasefire. “If we get that, it could be possible to start a conversation,” the government source said. “About an end to the war, withdrawal of the Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, and the return of displaced people.”
Israel, for its part, is demanding the full and rapid disarmament of Hezbollah as a condition for any truce – an “unreasonable” demand, according to the Lebanese official.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement on X as the meeting started that he hoped it would “mark the beginning of ending the suffering of the Lebanese people in general, and the southerners in particular”.
Israeli media reported that Israel has agreed to scale back strikes on Beirut and its southern suburbs, instead co-ordinating any such attacks with Washington.
Ahead of the talks, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denied having any dispute with Lebanon and said the problem was Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah has also its financial roots, there are a lot of dimensions holding this organisation, practically keeping Lebanon under Iranian occupation,” Mr Saar told reporters.
Despite the risks – including the possibility of a diplomatic trap – the official said Lebanon has little choice but to try. “We know what we’re going to say. But we don’t know what we’re going to get,” he said.
Under President Donald Trump, the US has leaned on Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, going so far as to condition continued military aid on taking the group's weapons. In a historic act, the Lebanese Parliament last year agreed to disarm the group.
Hezbollah has opposed the disarmament. In a speech on Monday, the group's chief Naim Qassem urged Lebanese authorities to cancel the meeting with Israel in Washington.
“Israel clearly states that the goal of these negotiations is to disarm Hezbollah, as [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu repeatedly states. So, how can you go to negotiations whose objective is already clear?” Mr Qassem said.
“We will not rest, stop or surrender. Instead, we will let the battlefield speak for itself.”
Mr Leiter added after the meeting that Beirut's decision to participate in the talks despite Hezbollah's objections was a "victory for sanity".
"The government of Joseph Aoun bravely said no to Hezbollah, and this is the beginning of a very strong and fortified, consistent battle against Hezbollah," he said.
