The United States said Israel and Lebanon are set to hold direct, high-level talks, the first such engagement since 1993, as fighting with Hezbollah continues along the northern border. The talks are expected to begin at 11AM ET under US mediation.<\/p>\n
A State Department official said on Monday that the discussions are taking place \u201cas a direct result of Hezballah’s reckless actions,\u201d adding that the talks will focus on \u201chow to ensure the long-term security of Israel’s northern border\u201d and support Lebanon\u2019s efforts \u201cto reclaim full sovereignty over its territory and political life.\u201d The official stressed that \u201cIsrael is at war with Hezballah, not Lebanon, so there is no reason the two neighbors should not be talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the official, the meeting will take place Tuesday at the State Department, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expected to participate alongside senior American officials. Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh are also set to attend.<\/p>\n
Negotiations stall over nuclear program, Hormuz, and Lebanon truce<\/p>\n
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun expressed cautious optimism ahead of the talks, saying he hopes they will help achieve a ceasefire and open the door to direct negotiations. \u201cThere is now an opportunity to reach a sustainable solution,\u201d he said, adding that such an outcome \u201ccannot be one-sided\u201d and requires Israel to respond to calls to halt its actions in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Aoun said Lebanese authorities have introduced additional security measures at Rafic Hariri International Airport and border crossings to prevent arms smuggling and the transfer of illicit funds to Hezbollah. He added that security forces have intensified enforcement efforts to maintain stability.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the talks, calling them \u201ccapitulation and surrender,\u201d and urged their cancellation. \u201cWe will not rest or surrender, and the battlefield speaks for itself,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cthe decision to negotiate with Israel is stabbing the resistance in the back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Qassem also denied that Hezbollah operates cells abroad after recent arrests in Gulf states, stating, \u201cWe have no Hezbollah activity or cells in any country in the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States said Israel and Lebanon are set to hold direct, high-level talks, the first such engagement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-391140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}