Lebanon and Israel Return to the Table in Washington
A third round of direct talks opened in Washington on Thursday, with Lebanese officials hoping the two-day session will yield a new ceasefire and a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from contested southern positions.
Negotiators from Beirut and Jerusalem opened a third round of direct talks in Washington on Thursday, racing a truce that has reduced — but not stopped — the cross-border fighting with Hezbollah and is set to lapse within days.
Lebanese officials told reporters they want the two-day session to produce a fresh ceasefire framework and, with it, a sequenced withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip of southern territory still under occupation. Israeli negotiators have signalled they will not move on withdrawal without verifiable Hezbollah disarmament north of the Litani.
American mediators are pressing both sides to convert what has become a managed conflict into a written settlement before the summer fighting season. The history of these talks — three rounds, no signed text — argues for caution.
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