JERUSALEM/BEIRUT: Israel and Lebanon are expected to hold direct talks in the coming days, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported on Saturday, in what would be a diplomatic milestone between the two states as Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah wage war.
Three Lebanese officials said Beirut is forming a delegation for talks but no date has been set. One of the officials said Lebanon needed clarity on whether Israel would abide by President Joseph Aoun’s first point - a demand for a full ceasefire to allow negotiations to take place. There was no immediate comment on the Haaretz report from the Israeli government.
Lebanon was sucked into the war in the Middle East on March 2 when Hezbollah opened fire at Israel, saying it aimed to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader. Israel has responded with an offensive that has killed more than 800 people in Lebanon and forced more than 800,000 from their homes.
Aoun has expressed the state’s willingness for direct talks with Israel, seeking to secure an end to the war.
The Lebanese state’s readiness for talks with Israel has come at a time of sharpening tensions within Lebanon over Hezbollah’s status as an armed group. The Beirut government last week banned Hezbollah’s military activities. The group rejected the move and fought on, firing hundreds of rockets at Israel.
An Israeli official told Reuters on Friday that the campaign against Hezbollah would likely be intensified and continue even after strikes on Iran die down.
HAARETZ REPORT: KUSHNER TO BE INVOLVED IN TALKS
Haaretz, citing two sources with knowledge of the matter, said the negotiations are expected to focus on ending fighting in Lebanon and disarming Hezbollah.
Haaretz reported that U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will be involved in the talks that may be held in Paris or in Cyprus, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s confidant Ron Dermer leading the Israeli delegation.
The Lebanese official said Lebanon still needed clarity on the framework for the talks including the agenda.
Lebanon and Israel have formally been in a state of war since Israel’s establishment in 1948. Critics have often described the heavily armed Hezbollah as a state within the state since Iran’s Revolutionary Guards formed it in 1982.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Friday that the group was ready for a long confrontation, and that any solution would require Israel to halt attacks, withdraw from Lebanese land, and to release prisoners.
