Ambassadors for Lebanon and Israel are set to meet in Washington on Thursday for a second round of US-brokered talks aimed at extending the current ceasefire and tackling disputes along the neighbouring countries' border.
The talks at the State Department come a week after the US announced a 10-day cessation of hostilities aimed at building conditions for “lasting peace”.
The ceasefire can be extended by “mutual agreement” between Lebanon and Israel if progress is made during talks and if Lebanon “effectively demonstrates its ability to assert its sovereignty”, the State Department said.
A department representative told The National that the US and other nations intend to support Lebanon as it works to restore state authority and fix the economy.
"The time has come to treat Lebanon as a sovereign state and to finally empower it to act like one, rather than letting an Iran-backed terrorist organisation have a veto on its future or block peace," the official said.
"We are encouraged by a Lebanese leadership that is realistic about its challenges and willing to work toward a sovereign, stable Lebanon."
Ceasefire could end on Sunday
Ahead of the ceasefire, Israel had been heavily bombing what it says are Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, razing villages and killing thousands of people, and has invaded the southern part of the country as it fights the Iran-backed militia. Hezbollah meanwhile has fired drones and missiles into Israel.
Thursday's talks come before the current ceasefire is due to expire on Sunday and will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio along with several officials including Mike Huckabee, the US envoy to Israel.
Underscoring tension, an Israeli strike killed two people in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, Lebanon's state news agency reported, and Hezbollah said it had launched an attack drone at Israeli troops in the south.
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Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on Beirut's southern suburbs. Reuters -
Rescue workers and security officers at the site of an Israeli air strike in the southern coastal city of Sidon, Lebanon. EPA -
First aid responders work near a struck building in Sidon. AFP -
Security officers examine the site of an Israeli strike in Sidon. EPA -
Residents shelter along Beirut's corniche after fleeing the southern suburbs. AFP -
Firefighters tackle a blaze at the site of an Israeli air strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs. AFP -
People stand on the rubble of a building in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital. Reuters -
Smoke billows from the site of overnight air strikes, which came after the Israeli army ordered hundreds of thousands of residents to leave the southern suburbs. AFP -
A bulldozer drives along a damaged street in Beirut's southern suburbs. Reuters -
A man lies on the ground, as displaced people gather at Martyrs' Square in Beirut. Reuters
US ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and Lebanese ambassador to the US Nada Moawad will also be at the meeting. Notably absent is any representative from Hezbollah, which the US and many other nations consider a terror group.
On Wednesday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said negotiations should centre on a “complete halt to Israeli aggressions” and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.
His other demands included the return of prisoners “and the commencement of reconstruction for all that has been destroyed during this war”. He also wants displaced Lebanese civilians to return to their villages in the south.
Mr Aoun's office said the talks present a “rare opportunity that we must not squander, as it may not arise again”.
Hezbollah has condemned Beirut for seeking talks with Israel, reflecting wider splits with the government that has sought Hezbollah's peaceful disarmament for a year.
Israel is demanding the full and rapid disarmament of Hezbollah, and it has levelled Lebanese villages as it pushes a “buffer zone” several kilometres into Lebanese territory.
The talks are the first major high-level engagement between the governments of Israel and Lebanon since 1993.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Wednesday that Israel had taken a “historic decision to negotiate directly with Lebanon after more than 40 years” while also calling it a “failed state” that is controlled by Iran through Hezbollah.
“I call on the government of Lebanon: Let's work together against the terror state that Hezbollah built in your territory. This co-operation is needed by you even more than by us.”
Michel Moawad, a member of the Lebanese Parliament representing the Zgharta District, said Lebanon is at a crossroads and faces an “existential threat”.
“We need to choose either we stay as a proxy battleground … or to say, once and for all, stop. We need to change, and Lebanon needs to become a model, not a problem,” he said at a Middle East Institute event in Washington.
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to the pause after fighting a devastating war for more than a year, after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
Fighting resumed on March 2 this year after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel. The Tehran-backed group said it was avenging the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Israeli-US strikes, and responding to more than a year of ceasefire breaches, with near-daily Israeli breaches recorded.
Israel retaliated with force that was described as “disproportionate” by EU and western officials, and civilians in Lebanon have paid the heaviest price. At least 2,165 people, including more than 170 children, have been killed since then, according to Lebanese authorities.
