Lebanon

Direct talks begin Thursday between the Israeli government, which has little incentive to compromise, and Lebanese officials unable to disarm Hezbollah, as deadly escalation continues between the Israeli military and the Shiite movement.

US State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggott tells Al Jazeera that the United States is working to create conditions for “good faith conversations” between Lebanon and Israel, while accusing Hezbollah of trying to derail diplomacy through attacks and threats.

Israel has attacked Beirut for the first time since it agreed to a ceasefire in the war with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, putting further pressure on a deal that has failed to stop the conflict.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Monday that Hezbollah’s defiance would bring catastrophic consequences for Lebanon after the militant group’s leader rejected proposed direct talks between the two countries.

A ceasefire in Lebanon will go on for three more weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump announced following talks yesterday with Israeli and Lebanese envoys.

Some form of ongoing UN presence might continue after a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon ends later this year, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Thursday. … Lacroix told reporters in Geneva that he was consulting with all parties about the options after its mandate formally stops at the end of December and will make formal recommendations to the Security Council by June.

Israel and Lebanon hold a new round of talks in Washington on Thursday, during which Beirut plans to request a one-month extension of a ceasefire due to expire within days. Israel stated ahead of the talks that it has no “serious disagreements” with Lebanon, calling on it to “work together” against the pro-Iran Hezbollah, which is notably absent from and opposed to the negotiations.

A UN peacekeeper has been killed and three others injured after a UNIFIL patrol came under fire in southern Lebanon, the mission said on Saturday. The incident occurred on Saturday morning local time as blue helmets were clearing explosive ordnance along a road in the village of Ghanduriyah to re-establish links with isolated UN positions.

United States President Donald Trump has announced that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon will speak to each other for the first time in 34 years on Thursday. The announcement, made on Trump’s Truth Social account on Wednesday, came a day after Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors held their first direct diplomatic talks in more than three decades in Washington, DC, with Lebanon seeking to end Israel’s devastating attacks on the country.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday killed 182 people and wounded 890, according to an initial toll from authorities, with the capital, Beirut, hit by the most violent bombardment since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel announced Wednesday it did not consider Lebanon covered by the Iran-US truce announced overnight.