Ceasefire and security : Top agenda in Israel-Lebanon talks

Israeli and Lebanese envoys will meet for U.S.-mediated talks in Washington on Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to calm weeks of Israeli fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah that has threatened to derail a fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire.

Both sides are under pressure from Trump to end the fighting, a demand by Iran in parallel talks brokered by Pakistan. 

WHO IS FIGHTING, AND WHY? 

Israel intensified its air attacks on Lebanon after Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on March 2, three days into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. It has since widened a ground invasion into Lebanon's south, ordering hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to flee villages it views as Hezbollah strongholds. 

Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 2,080 people, including 252 women and 166 children, the Lebanese health ministry says. Hezbollah has not released a death count for its fighters. Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on March 27 that more than 400 had been killed since March 2.

Hezbollah missile fire has mainly targeted towns near Israel's northern border but has also been aimed at major cities like Haifa and Tel Aviv, causing damage and sending Israelis rushing for bomb shelters. Two Israelis and 13 soldiers have been killed since March 2, Israel says.

The current war followed a round of fighting in 2024 that saw the U.S. broker a deal aimed at disarming Hezbollah. Since then, Lebanon's government has ordered the army to establish a state monopoly on those arms, an effort Israel says has failed. 

Hezbollah rejects calls to disarm, viewing its missiles and other weapons as an element of national defence against Israeli attacks. Following the 2024 deal, Israel continued to carry out strikes on what it said were Hezbollah depots and fighters. 

HOW DID THE TALKS COME ABOUT?

A week into the current war, Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun expressed willingness to begin direct negotiations with Israel to halt the fighting, even saying he was ready to move forward with normalizing relations.

Israel rebuffed that offer, deeming it too late from a government that shares its goal of disarming Hezbollah but cannot act against the group without risking a civil war. 

Israel's position changed after the U.S. and Iran reached a deal on April 7 to halt fighting.

On April 9, Netanyahu announced Israel would begin negotiations with Lebanon.

WHO WILL LEAD THE TALKS? 

Talks will be held in Washington at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT) between Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, and his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, officials say.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and the State Department's counsellor, Michael Needham, would attend, a department official said.

Lebanon, Israel and the U.S. have issued conflicting statements on what the talks would cover.

Lebanon's presidency has said the talks would focus on announcing a ceasefire and setting a start date for bilateral talks. A ceasefire was the only substantive issue Moawad is authorised to discuss, Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh said on Sunday.

Israel would not discuss a ceasefire during the talks, which would focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon, Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said on Monday.

WHERE DOES ISRAEL STAND MORE BROADLY? 

Netanyahu and other officials have not said whether they would be prepared to scale back ground operations or withdraw from positions in Lebanon, should talks advance. Israel has been bombing Lebanese villages as it seeks to create a "buffer zone" against Hezbollah past its northern border. 

However, a senior Israeli official said Israel had scaled down attacks ahead of the talks, including in Beirut, which Israel has not struck since April 8.

A different senior Israeli official, with knowledge of discussions in Netanyahu's cabinet, said Israel would urge Lebanon to sack Hezbollah ministers in the country's government. 

AND LEBANON? 

A senior Lebanese official said Lebanon's position was that a ceasefire was a condition for further talks to reach a broader deal with Israel. 

Lebanon's agreement to hold talks reflects unprecedented levels of domestic opposition to Hezbollah's status as an armed group. In March, the government banned Hezbollah from military activities. 

But with Hezbollah still wielding a powerful arsenal and backed by a significant portion of Lebanon's Shi'ite Muslim community, disarming the group is a steep challenge for a fragile Lebanese state now facing one of its most precarious moments since the 1975-90 civil war.

HAVE THE TWO HELD TALKS BEFORE?

Israel and Lebanon have no formal diplomatic relations and have technically been in a state of war since Israel's founding in 1948.

Israel has a long history of military incursions and invasions in Lebanon, including an 18-year occupation in the south from 1982-2000. 

More recently, Israel and Lebanon held U.S.-brokered talks in 2022 that led to a bilateral agreement establishing a maritime boundary between the two countries. 

In December 2025, the two sides held indirect talks with the U.S. in Naqoura, in southern Lebanon, to try to solidify the deal that ended the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah fighting.