Lebanon is proceeding with face-to-face talks with Israel in Washington to end the conflict that has killed over 4,000 people, despite a separate US-Iran memorandum already establishing a temporary halt in fighting.
Lebanon's primary goal is securing a timetable for an Israeli military withdrawal from the south, while Israel maintains its objective is the complete disarming and dismantling of Hezbollah.
Lebanon begins a new round of talks with Israel on Tuesday in Washington, with Beirut determined to press ahead with direct negotiations even as they appear to be overshadowed by Iran's decision to make Lebanon part of its negotiations with the United States.
Lebanese officials have insisted that face-to-face negotiations with Israel are the only way to secure an end to the war raging since March 2, when armed group Hezbollah fired at Israel in support of Iran and triggered Israeli air and ground attacks that have killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon.
However, four rounds of Lebanese-Israeli talks since April failed to produce a ceasefire. Instead, the longest lull in fighting came this week after Iran and the U.S. agreed a memorandum of understanding that stipulated fighting would halt across all fronts, including Lebanon.
That deal buoyed Iran-backed Hezbollah and affected the position of the Lebanese state, whose leaders including President Joseph Aoun had repeatedly warned that Tehran cannot negotiate on Lebanon's behalf. A Lebanese official and two foreign officials working on Lebanon told Reuters the Iran-U.S. deal had changed the dynamic for the Lebanese state, leaving it in its weakest position yet and raising questions about the utility of its talks with Israel this week.
The Lebanese official was skeptical that progress would come out of the negotiations, which are set to last for three days. "There remains a fundamental problem of trust between us and the Israelis in these talks. We cannot fulfill their demands, and they reject all of ours," the official said.
Lebanon has said that one of its goals in the talks would be securing an Israeli military withdrawal, but Israeli officials have said that troops would remain in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese official said that Beirut would demand Israel present a "reasonable" timetable for its withdrawal at the talks, noting, "This is the only chance we have to generate momentum in these talks, and in this tug-of-war with Iran," the official said.
Israel, meanwhile, sees the purpose of the upcoming talks as "disarming Hezbollah and achieving a genuine peace agreement" with Lebanon, according to a briefing by Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer on the eve of the negotiations. Mencer said the only impediment to a deal with Lebanon was Hezbollah, "which is why we believe that they should be disarmed and dismantled."
The Lebanese government has moved since 2025 to disarm Hezbollah without confronting the group directly, to avoid a civil conflict. Hezbollah has rejected disarming in full and has called on the government to withdraw from its direct talks with Israel.
Aoun first proposed direct talks in March but they only began in mid-April, after the U.S. announced a ceasefire to enable a diplomatic process that Washington said would lead to a peace deal. Israeli air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs then largely stopped, but fighting continued in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops pushed into Lebanese villages.
The U.S. announced a new ceasefire initiative in early June again as part of the Lebanese-Israeli talks, but it was contingent on Hezbollah halting fire and was rejected by the group. Hezbollah expects Iran to demand an Israeli withdrawal as it pursues talks with the U.S. on a final deal, and says the Lebanese government should depend on that track instead of its direct negotiations.
(Reuters reported)
