A Lebanese source familiar with the matter told Alhurra that the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States are set to hold a video call Friday to coordinate expected talks in Washington next week.
The source said Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Mouawad and Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, along with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, will take part in the call, which comes ahead of an expected in-person meeting next week at the U.S. State Department.
The meeting represents a significant shift toward direct diplomacy, as both countries seek to solidify a ceasefire and establish a negotiating track. It would mark the first time in decades that high-level direct coordination between Lebanon and Israel at the ambassadorial level is permitted to discuss sustainable security arrangements.
The talks aim to transform the current cessation of military operations into a formal framework for peace, according to the same source.
Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon this week, killing more than 300 people and wounding hundreds of others.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel will not halt its attacks on Hezbollah. He added that the talks will seek to achieve two objectives: disarming Hezbollah and reaching a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
Earlier, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said last month that he was ready to begin direct negotiations with Israel to stop the fighting, and even expressed willingness to move toward normalizing relations.
Israel rejected this historic offer at the time, describing it as too late from a government that shares the goal of disarming Hezbollah but cannot act against the group without risking the outbreak of a civil war.
However, Israel’s position shifted after the United States and Iran reached a ceasefire agreement Tuesday. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Trump asked Netanyahu in a phone call Thursday to scale back attacks on Hezbollah, due to Iran’s insistence that Israel halt its strikes on Lebanon before talks begin in Pakistan on Saturday.
The article is a translation of the original Arabic.
Leila Bazzi
Leila Bazzi is Editor-in-Chief of MBN
