Israel and Lebanon agreed to begin negotiations on disputes around the land border between them, the officials said on Tuesday, offering a possible opportunity to resolve disagreements that have contributed for decades of tension and conflict.
In a statement, Morgan Ortagus, Deputy Envoy of President Trump, said the United States gathered Israel and Lebanon to discuss the border border. She said the discussions would also focus on the future of five Israeli military branches in Lebanon and Lebanese prisoners still held in Israel after Firefire agreement Last year, he mostly stopped over a year of cross -border war.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said there is an agreement on establishing a working group to discuss three topics. The Lebanese official, who spoke about the state of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, confirmed that Israel and Lebanon agreed that they were dealing with the border border negotiations.
It was not clear in the view that format officials had planned to keep talking or really if they were actually going ahead. Israel and Lebanon do not have direct formal diplomatic relations.
But if Israel and Lebanon manage to reach an agreement on the border, it would undermine the argument of Hezbollah, a militant group that is an influential force in Lebanon, for maintaining weapons, analysts said. Hezbollah has long claimed that he fought against what he described as Israel’s occupation of Lebanon.
“If the border agreement is made, Hezbollah’s alibi will not be,” said Mohanad Hage Ali, an older colleague from the Middle East Center Carnegie in Beirut. “They’ll pull the rug under them.”
The day after Hamas performed a surprising attack from Gaza’s belt to southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began shooting rockets and mortars in northern Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group.
The Tit-for-Tat attacks across the Israeli-Libanon borders have been created for months until Israel has performed a huge escalation against Hezbollah, killing top leaders, aiming for its weapons cache and launching the ground floor in Lebanon.
At the end of November, Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement on the interruption of fire dependent on Israel and Hezbollah, which by the end of January gave control of South Lebanon to the Lebanese army.
Israel, however, still controls Five points in southern Lebanon. Israeli officials claimed that Hezbollah had not lived through his side of the agreement and were still a threat to the Israelites in northern Israel, while the militant group accused Israel of breaking the November agreement without withdrawing.
“Everyone involved are still dedicated to the implementation of the Fire Interruption Agreement and to completely implement all their conditions,” Ms. Ortagus said.
Two US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to communicate with the media, they said they were hoping that conversations would be convened soon without mentioning a certain time frame.
One of US officials said there are 13 specific places where Israel and Lebanon disagree on the border.
2022. Israel and Lebanon reached up to A demarcation agreement A maritime border between the two countries. This agreement resolved the place of exclusive economic zones of two countries in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, grabbing where each has the only right to draw resources.
After that, US officials talked about Initial negotiations on the land borderThe plan predicted by Amos Hochstein, the best envoy of Biden. But the war in Gaza put those plans on waiting.
The announcement of future border interviews on Tuesday followed after a meeting of officials from the United States, Israel, Lebanon, France and the United Nations on the implementation of the tribute.
After that meeting, the office of the newly elected President Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, said Israel had released four Lebanese citizens he established during the war last year. It was said that Israel would release the fifth Lebanese citizen on Wednesday.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said Israel had released five Lebanese detainees as a “gesture” to Mr. Aoun.
The number of people who detained Israel was considered to be quite low in Lebanon in Libanon, and the Israeli army did not immediately respond to a query of how much it remained in Israeli custody.
Aaron Boxerman and Euan Department Contributing to reporting this article.
