The State Department in the United States has said that a new round of talks between Israel and Lebanon will be held in Washington, DC, next week.
The statement on Friday came shortly after Israel and Hezbollah announced a renewed ceasefire in Lebanon, where ongoing fighting has threatened to derail the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end the war.
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The State Department said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday and “underscored that Lebanon’s bilateral negotiations with Israel represent the only feasible path to reconstruction, economic recovery, and ending recurrent cycles of violence”.
The pair discussed the upcoming talks scheduled for June 23 and 25, “where the two sovereign governments will make progress toward a lasting peace”.
Israel and Lebanon held their first in a series of direct talks in April, the first time the countries had met since 1993.
Following that meeting and a subsequent round of talks in June, Israel and Lebanon announced pauses in fighting.
However, the talks have not included Hezbollah, hampering any meaningful progress.
Hezbollah and Israel have continued to exchange attacks in recent months. In the latest bout of fighting, Israeli attacks killed at least 47 people across southern Lebanon since midnight.
Following the ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024, the government in Lebanon has been seeking to disarm Hezbollah as a part of a US-backed roadmap.
The Lebanese government has also pushed for Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon. However, the text of an agreement reached in June called for Hezbollah’s withdrawal to north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon, but did not call for Israel’s full withdrawal.
The US-Iran memorandum of understanding to end the US-Israel war with Iran, meanwhile, commits to “ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon”.
Ongoing fighting has continued to derail the MoU, prompting a rare rebuke of Israel from US President Donald Trump.
Speaking earlier in the day, Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accused Israel of seeking “permanent war”.
<small>Source: Al Jazeera</small>
