In a significant breakthrough, Israel and Lebanon have agreed to hold direct negotiations following “productive discussions" in Washington, the US State Department said this week.
Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said that participants agreed to launch direct talks “at a mutually agreed time and venue" after preliminary discussions on how to move forward.
The agreement was reached after a trilateral meeting hosted by the United States, marking a potential step towards easing tensions along the border. The meeting, mediated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was described as a “historic opportunity" to lay the groundwork for lasting peace despite decades of hostility between the two countries.
The two countries have technically been at war for decades, and the recent talks have been vehemently opposed by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which announced that it had fired rockets at more than a dozen northern Israeli towns as the meeting was getting underway.
The US is pressing for a halt to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, fearing it could derail the two-week ceasefire in Washington’s war with Iran after talks with Tehran in Pakistan failed to achieve a breakthrough.
