Third round of Lebanon-Israel talks to be held next week: US official

Lebanon and Israel will participate in their third round of direct talks in Washington next week, a State Department official said on Thursday.

“There will be talks between Lebanon and Israel Thursday and Friday next week in Washington,” the official said.

The announcement came a day after the first Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital in weeks, which Israel said killed a senior Hezbollah commander.

Washington has facilitated two rounds of direct negotiations between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States in recent weeks.

Earlier this week, a State Department official criticized Hezbollah for its efforts to sabotage progress on direct talks between Beirut and Israel. “Hezbollah is still trying to derail negotiations with attacks on Israel and threats inside Lebanon,” this official told Al Arabiya English.

During the second round, the US president chose to sit in, prompting the talks to be moved from the State Department to the White House. In a sign of Trump’s interest in the negotiations, he tasked Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Caine with presiding over the talks.

Trump has also suggested that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet soon at the White House. But Beirut has said it is premature to discuss such a meeting before a ceasefire is agreed and Israeli troops fully withdraw from Lebanon.

Last Friday, the US Embassy in Beirut said the current ceasefire with Israel gives Lebanon “the space and the opportunity to put all of its legitimate demands on the table with the full attention of the United States Government.”