Lebanon, Israel hold first direct talks in decades under US scrutiny • FRANCE 24 English

Lebanon, Israel hold first direct talks in decades under US scrutiny • FRANCE 24 English

Israel and Lebanon say they held their first direct talks today in decades. That’s part of a year old ceasefire monitoring mechanism in the war with Hezbollah. The meeting took place in Lebanon’s Nakura near the border with Israel. The US special representative for Lebanon was also present at those talks. Well, for the latest on this, let’s bring in France 24’s Jerusalem correspondent, Noga Tarnel Posski. No, what more can you tell us? Well, this is very much part uh Jenny of the United States trying uh with great effort to keep this ceasefire alive. This is actually the Hezbollah Israel ceasefire that came into effect around the time of the US election last year. So still under the Biden administration, but it has held more or less for the past year. The Lebanese government uh the new Lebanese government has made some efforts to disarm Hezbollah which is part of the conditions of this deal. But in recent months according to Israel and even according to Hezbollah this uh the Islamist organization has succeeded in significantly rearming itself instead of disarming which is what the ceasefire cause uh calls for. Israel at the same time has in recent weeks really escalated its own air strikes in Lebanon. So there is a risk to the continued um enforcement of this ceasefire and the United States is making every effort to try and keep it on track. So today’s meeting, I have to tell you, in which it seemed both Israel and Lebanon were kind of dragging their feet about uh agreeing to attend it was held under tremendous US pressure on both sides. And we have not yet heard if any progress was made towards stabilizing the situation on Israel’s northern border, Lebanese southern’s border. So Noga, what does this mean concretely? Are we moving toward a new ceasefire phase? Well, we could be in terms of Lebanon, the ceasefire as is was supposed to hold. In terms of the other ceasefire monitored and enforced by the United States in Gaza, uh Israel is uh also dragging its feet as has kamas about entering into phase two. But what we’re seeing is again US representatives really kind of cracking heads together as they have with Lebanon and Israel forcing them to announce that meetings will be held that talks will be held. Both Israel and Lebanon sent civilian representatives not particularly highlevel reps but they did send someone. And regarding the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, also we’re seeing some American efforts being put into place to try and ensure at least that active war doesn’t return. But I have to tell you that um from where I stand, it really does seem as if war is inching back on both of these

US special envoy Morgan Ortagus attended a meeting at the UN peacekeeping headquarters in Naqura, Lebanon, as part of the ceasefire monitoring mechanism between Israel and Hezbollah established in November 2024. The United States is pressing Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, while Israel and Lebanon, which have no formal diplomatic ties, had previously insisted on keeping military officers in the monitoring role.
#Lebanon #Israel #US

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