New Lebanon-Israel talks to begin, in shadow of US-Iran deal

[BEIRUT] Lebanon heads into a new round of talks with Israel on Tuesday (Jun 23) in Washington, with Beirut determined to press ahead with direct negotiations even as they appear to be overshadowed by Iran’s decision to make Lebanon part of its negotiations with the US.

Lebanese officials have insisted that face-to-face negotiations with Israel are the only way to secure an end to the war raging since Mar 2 when armed group Hizbollah fired at Israel in support of Iran and triggered Israeli air and ground attacks that have killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon.

But four rounds of Lebanese-Israeli talks since April failed to produce a durable ceasefire. Instead, the longest lull in fighting came this week after Iran and the US agreed to a memorandum of understanding on Jun 17 that stipulated fighting would halt across all fronts, including Lebanon.

That deal buoyed Iran-backed Hizbollah and dealt a blow to the Lebanese state, whose leaders, including President Joseph Aoun, had repeatedly warned that Teheran cannot negotiate on Lebanon’s behalf.

A Lebanese official and two foreign officials working in Lebanon told Reuters the Iran-US deal had pulled the rug out from under the Lebanese state, leaving it in its weakest position yet and throwing into question the utility of its talks with Israel this week.

The Lebanese official was skeptical that any tangible progress would come out of the negotiations, which are set to last for three days.

“There remains a fundamental problem of trust between us and the Israelis in these talks. We cannot fulfill their demands, and they reject all of ours,” the official said.

Lebanon to seek Israeli withdrawal timeline

Lebanon has said that one of its key goals in the talks would be securing an Israeli military withdrawal, but top Israeli officials have said that troops would remain in southern Lebanon indefinitely.

The Lebanese official said that Beirut would demand Israel present a “reasonable” timetable for its withdrawal at the talks.

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“This is the only chance we have to generate momentum in these talks, and in this tug-of-war with Iran,” the official said.

Israel, meanwhile, sees the purpose of the upcoming talks as “disarming Hizbollah and achieving a genuine peace agreement” with Lebanon, according to a briefing by Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer on the eve of the new negotiations.

Mencer said the only impediment to a deal with Lebanon was Hizbollah, “which is why we believe that they should be disarmed and dismantled”.

The Lebanese government has moved carefully since 2025 to disarm Hizbollah without confronting the group directly, fearing it would spark a civil conflict.

Hizbollah has rejected disarming in full and has called on the government to withdraw from its direct talks with Israel.

Hizbollah bets on Iran as negotiator

Karim Safieddine, a fellow at the Washington-based Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, told Reuters there was a risk that Israel could assume an even more hard-line position in the Washington talks given its officials’ anger over the US-Iran deal.

While that deal had brought relative calm to Lebanon, there was “no structural change” in the Lebanese and Israeli positions that indicated progress could be made at the negotiating table, Safieddine said.

Aoun first proposed direct talks in March but they only began in mid-April, after the US announced a ceasefire to enable a diplomatic process that Washington said would ultimately lead to a peace deal.

Israeli air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs then largely stopped, but fierce fighting continued in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops pushed deeper into Lebanese villages.

The US announced a new ceasefire initiative in early June again as part of the Lebanese-Israeli talks, but it was contingent on Hizbollah halting fire and was rejected by the group.

Hizbollah expects Iran to demand an Israeli withdrawal as it pursues talks with the US on a final deal, and says the Lebanese government should bet on that track instead of its direct negotiations. REUTERS