Lebanon was hoping to extend the shaky ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel as its representatives were set to meet with Israeli envoys on Thursday for the second time in two weeks in Washington, DC, while Israeli officials projected optimism about the talks.
The historic negotiations, brokered by the US, are the first sustained direct talks between Israel and its neighbor to the north in decades. They come amid a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group that is set to expire Sunday.
The truce, which began last week, has seen repeated clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, including on Wednesday, Israel’s Independence Day.
Hezbollah launched a drone at troops stationed in southern Lebanon during the day, which was intercepted by air defenses. The IDF called the attack a “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.” Tuesday saw Hezbollah launch a barrage of rockets at troops in southern Lebanon and a drone at Israel, also citing truce violations.
Israel has not yet responded to those attacks beyond striking a rocket launcher used in the barrage.
The military also said Wednesday that it had struck and killed two Hezbollah operatives the previous day after they crossed the ceasefire line in southern Lebanon.
Truce extension
Lebanon hopes to secure a one-month extension to the ceasefire at Thursday’s talks, which will be led by Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter and Simon Karam, Beirut’s former ambassador to Washington.
A Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity to AFP said: “Lebanon will request an extension of the truce for one month, an end of Israel’s bombing and destruction in the areas where it is present, and a commitment to the ceasefire.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday that “contacts are underway to extend the ceasefire period.”
The language of the truce deal allows Israel to strike to defend its territory or troops. The IDF has carried out multiple strikes since the ceasefire took effect, citing violations.
A Lebanese official told Reuters that if the ceasefire is extended, the goals of the meeting also include exploring a date for expanded negotiations beyond the ambassadorial level, in which Lebanon would push for an Israeli withdrawal, the return of Lebanese detained in Israel and a delineation of the land border between the two countries.
Israeli officials, meanwhile, mused about peace between the two countries in speeches on Wednesday. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that the countries don’t have major disagreements and that they share an enemy in Hezbollah.
“We made a historic decision to negotiate directly with Lebanon after more than 40 years,” Sa’ar said at an Independence Day reception for the foreign diplomatic corps in Jerusalem.
“Unfortunately, Lebanon is a failed state. A state that is de facto under Iranian occupation through Hezbollah. But this also leads to a conclusion: Hezbollah is a common enemy of Israel and Lebanon,” said Sa’ar. “Just as it threatens Israel’s security, it harms Lebanon’s sovereignty and threatens its future.”
Sa’ar said that Israel doesn’t “have any serious disagreements with Lebanon. There are a few minor border disputes, which can be solved. The obstacle to peace and normalization between the countries is one: Hezbollah.”
Sa’ar called on the government of Lebanon to “work together against the terror state that Hezbollah built in your territory.”
He added: “This cooperation is needed by you even more than by us. It requires moral clarity and the courage to take risks. But there is no real alternative for ensuring a future of peace for you and for us. And for you, for Lebanon — a future of sovereignty, independence and freedom from the Iranian occupation.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Tuesday appeared to throw cold water on the prospect of forcibly disarming Hezbollah, saying that he wanted to avoid a clash with the terror group, even as he reportedly told the European Union that Lebanon needs a stronger army.
“We are not seeking confrontation with Hezbollah; on the contrary, I would prefer to avoid confrontation with Hezbollah,” Salam said, speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris after attending a meeting of the EU’s foreign ministers in Luxembourg, according to the Emirati publication The National.
“But believe me, we will not be intimidated by Hezbollah and those who are fanning the flames of civil war.”
Herzog dreams of drive to Beirut
President Isaac Herzog envisioned a future of normalized relations between Israel and Lebanon.
In a speech at the diplomatic corps event, Herzog said he recently told Israeli schoolchildren “that my dream is to get into a car and drive straight to Beirut, to visit that beautiful city, to befriend the good people of Lebanon, those who share a prayer with us for a better future.”
Beirut is roughly 130 kilometers (80 miles) up the Mediterranean coast from the Israeli port city of Haifa.
Herzog said he salutes “the teams who will hopefully gather tomorrow in Washington, DC,” and wished them “great success in pursuing peace between Israel and Lebanon. But in order to reach that point, Israel must ensure the safety of its borders.”
Herzog said the talks were a part of the diplomatic corps’ work to “help shape a Middle East in which all of our sons and daughters can inherit opportunity instead of fear. That they inherit the promises of tomorrow, and not the conflicts of yesterday.”
Fighting continues
The most recent conflict between Hezbollah and Israel began on March 2, when the terror group began firing missiles at Israel days after the start of the US-Israeli war with its sponsor, Iran. Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and by moving troops into southern Lebanon, where it said it hoped to establish a buffer zone.
On April 17, after six weeks of fighting, the US imposed a 10-day ceasefire in the conflict, but the IDF has continued to respond to what it says are violations of the truce. Hezbollah has also accused Israel of violating the ceasefire.
The two operatives killed by the army on Tuesday were spotted by troops of the 7th Armored Brigade near the Wadi Saluki stream. The IDF said the operatives “crossed the forward defense line and approached the troops in a manner that posed an immediate threat.”
The Israeli Air Force then struck and “eliminated the terrorists to remove the threat,” the military said.
On Wednesday, the IDF said Hezbollah launched a drone at its troops stationed in southern Lebanon. According to the IDF, the drone was intercepted by air defenses. No injuries were reported.
The IDF called the attack a “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.”
Hezbollah took responsibility for the drone attack, saying it targeted an Israeli artillery site in the Ras al-Bayada headland south of Tyre, in response to Israeli violations of the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the IDF denied carrying out a strike in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley on Wednesday morning.
Lebanon’s state media had reported earlier that one person was killed and two others wounded in an Israeli drone strike overnight on the outskirts of al-Jabbour.
In response to a query, the military told The Times of Israel that it was unaware of any strikes conducted in that area.
