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Ceasefire and talks
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that a comprehensive ceasefire must be secured for negotiations with Israel to progress, as the two sides discussed the current situation in Lebanon and the wider region during a Friday phone call.
The U.S. State Department later announced that negotiations would resume in Washington from June 23 to 25, with State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott saying the talks would provide an opportunity to “make progress toward a lasting peace.”
Rubio stressed that the U.S. “stands with Lebanon” and said Washington would work to achieve “security and stability,” ensure “the extension of state authority over all its territory,” and support Lebanon’s legitimate political, security and military institutions, “foremost among them the army.”
In the same call, Aoun emphasized “the need for Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory to cease through the achievement of a comprehensive ceasefire,” which Lebanon considers a fundamental basis for advancing the Lebanese-U.S.-Israeli negotiations scheduled to take place in Washington next week.
Disarmament dispute
Rubio reiterated the “need to disarm” Hezbollah to “re-establish control” over all Lebanese territory, asserting that a sovereign state must be “at peace with all its neighbours,” while Pigott said the upcoming negotiations would involve “the two sovereign governments.”
Hezbollah’s role in the ceasefire was also central to Israel’s stated conditions, with Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, saying Israel was committed to an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon but that it depended on Hezbollah honoring the agreement and ending hostilities.
Leiter said Israel would back an immediate ceasefire only “if Hezbollah honours the agreement and ceases its hostilities,” framing the disarmament demand as tied to ending hostilities.
DW reported that Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister said they would retaliate after four IDF soldiers were killed, and it described the ceasefire agreement as coming after heavy fighting that put the wider Iran ceasefire under pressure.
Human impact and next steps
The call and the planned Washington talks unfolded as Israeli attacks since March 2 had killed 3,912 people and displaced over one million in Lebanon, according to Yeni Şafak English, while TRT World reported Israel had killed 3,912 people, wounded 11,873 others, and displaced more than one million residents since March 2.
DW said Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 47 people, including seven women and two children, and wounded 97 others in Lebanon since midnight, and it noted that Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported a new Israeli attack on Jezzine in southern Lebanon shortly after the ceasefire announcement.
In Washington, L’Orient-Le Jour described direct talks between Lebanese and Israeli delegations as “provocative,” quoting Deputy Kassem Hachem from the Amal bloc saying, “In Washington today, Lebanon begged and did not even receive alms,” while UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Janine Hennis-Plasschaert welcomed the meeting as “a first step toward ending the current hostilities and breaking the cycle of conflict.”
The next round of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations is scheduled to be held in Washington from June 23 to 25, and the U.S. position as described by Yeni Şafak English was that Rubio stressed the need to disarm Hezbollah to ensure national sovereignty and to support “security and stability” for Lebanon’s recovery.
