US President Donald Trump announces a call between Israeli and Lebanese leaders as Washington pushes to ease hostilities following direct talks.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has announced that leaders of Israel and Lebanon will speak on Thursday. The planned call follows the first direct negotiations between senior officials from the two countries in decades, held in Washington.
Trump stated he was “trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon” in a post on his Truth Social platform. He did not identify the specific participants or provide further details about the upcoming discussion.
The talks aim to ease hostilities after Lebanon was pulled into the wider Middle East conflict. This followed an attack on Israel by the pro-Tehran group Hezbollah on March 2.
Israeli strikes since then have killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than one million. Israeli ground forces have also invaded the country’s south, despite international calls for a ceasefire.
A senior US administration official said Trump would “welcome the end of hostilities in Lebanon as part of a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon”. The official stressed that any such outcome is not linked to separate negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
“The United States wants to see a durable peace but did not demand an immediate ceasefire,” the anonymous official added. Washington’s focus is reportedly on building trust to create space for a lasting peace deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined his objectives for the talks with Lebanon on Wednesday. He stated the goals were “the dismantling of Hezbollah” and achieving “a sustainable peace… achieved through strength.”
