On Tuesday, ambassadors from Israel and Lebanon convened in Washington, D.C., aiming to negotiate a peace agreement involving the Jewish state and Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group that has already dismissed the prospect of honoring any accord.
This gathering marked the first direct dialogue between Israel and Lebanon in over three decades and was spearheaded by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Alongside Rubio were Yechiel Leiter, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and Nada Hamadeh, the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon.
“While the intricacies of this situation won’t be unraveled in the next six hours, we are setting the stage to advance a framework for a potentially significant and lasting resolution. This could usher in a promising future for the people of Lebanon and ensure a life free from fear for Israelis,” Rubio remarked to reporters as discussions commenced.
The proposed agreement seeks to halt hostilities between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah, which continued to exchange attacks on Tuesday, with reports of rocket fire affecting both sides of the border.
The renewed conflict between the two factions has been fueled by the ongoing U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, resulting in daily missile strikes targeting northern Israel and southern Lebanon.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest conflict broke out March 2, according to health officials, who do not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that a clear goal of the peace talks was to see Hezbollah disarm, with the Jewish state vowing that it would not agree to a temporary cease-fire, only a permanent end to the fighting.
Hours before the negotiations in Washington began, Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of Hezbollah’s political council, said the militant group would not abide by whatever is agreed to in the peace talks.
“As for the outcomes of this negotiation between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy, we are not interested in or concerned with them at all,” Safa told the Associated Press. “We are not bound by what they agree to.”
