US hosts fourth round of Lebanon-Israel talks in Washington

Diplomats from Lebanon and Israel met in Washington on Tuesday for a fourth round of US-brokered talks, as both sides seek to build on efforts to ease tensions along their shared border.

The fourth meeting between representatives of the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations, is taking place at the State Department and is scheduled to last two days.

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Simon Karam, the Lebanese president’s special envoy, led Beirut’s delegation; Israel’s envoy to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, headed his country’s. Lebanese ambassador to Washington, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, also took part.

Dan Holler, the State Department’s chief of staff, headed the US delegation alongside Michael Needham, who recently left the State Department for the National Security Council.

The talks come as Hezbollah and Israel continue to exchange fire, despite US President Donald Trump announcing an agreement Monday to halt attacks.

Israel on Tuesday said it would continue targeting Hezbollah’s bastions in Beirut’s suburbs if the Iran-backed group continues to attack northern Israeli towns.

Recent days have seen a dramatic escalation in fighting and bombardment as Israeli troops stage their deepest incursion into Lebanon in two decades.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Tuesday that Israeli strikes a day earlier near a hospital in the southern city of Tyre killed four people and wounded 127 others, including 39 staff from the facility.

With AFP

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