A second round of direct talks between Lebanon and Israel will take place this week, US officials told Al Arabiya English on Monday.
– The talks will be the second of their kind, following last week’s inaugural negotiations, hosted by the Trump administration at the State Department.
– “The United States welcomes the productive engagement that began on April 14,” a State Department official told Al Arabiya English.
– “We will continue to facilitate direct, good-faith discussions between the two governments,” the official added.
– Lebanon and Israel’s ambassadors to Washington are expected to head the respective delegations, US officials said.
– Lebanese ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad and her Israeli counterpart, Yechiel Leiter, met last week in the first such meeting in decades.
– Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Monday that the government and no other side would lead planned talks with Israel in a veiled reference to Iran, which has tried to take credit for the recently announced 10-day ceasefire to the war between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel.
– Aoun, in a statement on X, said former Lebanese ambassador to Washington Simon Karam would lead his country’s delegation.