Trump declares direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese leaders — first in 34 years

The US President Donald Trump has reported that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon will hold peace talks — for the first time in 34 years.

He wrote about this on April 16 on his social network Truth Social.

"We are trying to create a little respite in relations between Israel and Lebanon. Their leaders have not spoken for a very long time — 34 years. It will happen tomorrow. Great!" Trumpʼs post reads.

He did not name the leaders. However, an Israeli official told CNN that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun would participate in the talks.

Representatives of the two countries met this week in the United States, but fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian group in Lebanon, is still ongoing. So today, the Israeli prime minister wants to discuss a possible ceasefire with Lebanon, a source told CNN.

At the same time, as AFP writes, citing its own source, the Lebanese authorities are unaware of possible contacts with Israel.

Israel has said that the main goal of the talks with Lebanon is the complete disarmament of Hezbollah and the establishment of stable interstate relations. Lebanon demands a ceasefire and help overcome the humanitarian crisis.

Following the results of the previous talks between representatives of the two countries, mediated by the United States, the parties agreed to begin direct negotiations, but the time and place were not specified.

At the same time, US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said after the talks that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to work to reduce Hezbollahʼs influence. And the United States "reaffirmed its support for Israelʼs right to self-defense" against Hezbollah attacks.

It is worth noting that there are no diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Israel, and the last direct high-level talks took place in 1993.

• On the night of April 8, the US President Donald Trump reported that he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire in Iran. But within hours, ceasefire violations were recorded in several places in the Middle East conflict zone.
• At the same time, Israel carried out the largest attack on Lebanon since the beginning of the new war: in 10 minutes it attacked more than 100 facilities of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah — more than 350 people were killed.
• The US authorities stated that the ceasefire did not apply to Lebanon. And Israel emphasized that it was not at war with Lebanon, but with the Hezbollah group on the territory of the country.

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