Two Lebanese officials said their government has not heard about a potential meeting in Washington, DC, next week, after an Israeli official and a US official said negotiations between Israel and Lebanon were expected to begin at the US State Department.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he had instructed his government to “open direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible” in light of “repeated requests” from the country.
However, one of Lebanese officials said Thursday there would be “no negotiations under fire.” The officials said Lebanon’s foreign ministry and the presidential palace had not been officially notified of that invitation to open talks, nor have they heard anything about a potential meeting next week.
Later Thursday, Netanyahu stated there would be no ceasefire in Lebanon even as he pushes for talks to commence.
If the talks do take place next week, Israel would be represented by its ambassadors to the US Yechiel Leiter and the US would be represented by its ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, the Israeli and US officials said.
Netanyahu said the negotiations will focus on the disarmament of Hezbollah the establishment of “peaceful relations” between the two countries.
The talks come as Israel has heavily bombarded Lebanon, including its capital of Beirut, in a deadly military assault.
Big picture: The ongoing military action has threatened to derail the tenuous US-Iran ceasefire. The US said the ceasefire did not include Lebanon, despite understandings from Iran and Pakistan that it did.
On the first day of that ceasefire, Israel conducted its biggest wave of strikes on Lebanon since the war began, killing at least 303 people and injuring 1150, Lebanon’s health ministry said Thursday.