Hezbollah Leader Naim Kassem Urges Lebanon To Withdraw From Direct Talks With Israel In Washington

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem urged Lebanon’s government on Tuesday to withdraw from direct talks with Israel in Washington this week, calling them “concessions by Lebanese authorities” and urging “indirect negotiations.”

“Hezbollah leader urges Lebanon to withdraw from direct talks with Israel in Washington BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group called on the government on Tuesday to withdraw from direct talks with Israel this week in Washington, calling them a concession and instead urged for indirect negotiations”

AP News

Lebanon and Israel are scheduled to hold two days of talks in Washington starting Thursday in an attempt to end the latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict that broke out two months ago after the Iran war.

AP News

The U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect on April 17, but Israel and Hezbollah continued carrying out daily attacks, with the latest war starting on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel.

Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said that since the ceasefire went into effect, 380 people have been killed and 1,122 have been wounded, bringing the death toll since the war began to 2,882 and the wounded to 8,786.

From the early hours of Tuesday, Israel’s air force carried out strikes in different parts of southern Lebanon and the village of Sohmor in the eastern Bekaa Valley, and state-run National News Agency reported airstrikes on Jibchit killed three and wounded four.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a White House briefing that reaching a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon is “achievable,” but the process “will not be easy, and will require Lebanon to gain the capabilities necessary to confront Hezbollah.”

Rubio said the United States hopes to bring the Lebanese and Israeli governments to the negotiating table “under our mediation,” adding that this would mean “having the Lebanese armed forces and a Lebanese government” able to begin challenging Hezbollah and disarming it.

Boston Herald

Ahead of direct talks Thursday in Washington, Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said Israel’s strategy for Lebanon is to run two different tracks simultaneously, with one team working to “achieve peace, a peace treaty, full peace, as if Hezbollah doesn't exist.”

Leiter described a second track focused on securing Israel’s security goals “as if the peace talks don't exist,” while the AP reported Hezbollah fired several drones at northern Israel on Tuesday, with Israel saying it intercepted several before they crossed the border.

In parallel, Hezbollah confirmed that one of its military commanders was killed in an airstrike near Beirut last week, releasing a photo of Ahmed Ghaleb Balout, whom it described as a commander who spent much of his life on the battlefield.

Lebanese authorities have demanded the cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, deployment of Lebanese troops south of the Litani River, the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, and the return of displaced people to their homes.

“(CNN) — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that reaching a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon is "achievable," but the process "will not be easy, and will require Lebanon to gain the capabilities necessary to confront Hezbollah," which is backed by Iran”

CNN Arabic

Kassem said in his letter that the dispute over Hezbollah’s weapons was an internal affair and should not be part of the talks with Israel, while he also said Hezbollah is ready to cooperate to help achieve the five points demanded by the Lebanese government.

The AP reported that Israel’s air force carried out strikes in different parts of southern Lebanon, and National News Agency said Israeli forces entered parts of Deir Mimas on the Litani River and blew up a water pumping station that uses solar energy and supplies the village with fresh water.

CNN Arabic reported Rubio’s view that the problem between Israel and Lebanon “does not lie in Israel or Lebanon per se, but in Hezbollah,” and that the United States is “very committed to this process” even as he said “It won't be easy.”

With the talks scheduled to begin Thursday in Washington and Hezbollah and Israel continuing attacks despite the April 17 ceasefire, the sources frame the next phase as a test of whether Lebanon can challenge and disarm Hezbollah while negotiations proceed under U.S. mediation.