US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday he hopes ongoing negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in Washington will result in a joint action plan aimed at improving security in Lebanon and reducing the influence of Hezbollah.
Speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Rubio said the latest round of talks could produce a roadmap towards greater stability.
“We hope that today we will be able to produce a joint statement and an action plan on a path towards security in that country, independent of Hezbollah and its harmful influence,” he said.
Fighting not abaiting
The comments came as Israeli and Lebanese envoys entered a fourth round of direct negotiations in Washington. The talks are being conducted by the two countries’ ambassadors to the United States, who met at the State Department on Tuesday for discussions lasting approximately seven hours, according to reports.
During separate testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Rubio said Israel and Lebanon could potentially reach a peace agreement “as early as tomorrow” were it not for Hezbollah, which he described as the principal obstacle to a settlement.
Despite the diplomatic efforts and repeated calls for de-escalation by US President Donald Trump, fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group has continued.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for attacks targeting Israeli soldiers in northern Israel, while Lebanese officials reported that Israeli air strikes and military operations in southern Lebanon killed at least nine people, including two paramedics and a soldier. An Israeli strike also reportedly targeted an area on the outskirts of Beirut.
War with Iran 'not over'
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he shares President Trump’s goal of disarming Hezbollah and demilitarising Lebanon.
In an interview with CNBC, Netanyahu argued that lasting peace between Israel and Lebanon would require the dismantling of Hezbollah’s military capabilities.
“If we want to save Lebanon, if we want to achieve peace between Lebanon and Israel, as I hope, we must disarm Hezbollah and demilitarise Lebanon,” he said. “This is a goal that the President and I share, and it is what we must do.”
Addressing the conflict with Iran, Netanyahu said any decision to resume full-scale military action against Tehran would ultimately rest with President Trump, while stressing that both American and Israeli forces remained prepared. He added that, although Iran had been weakened, Israel’s confrontation with Tehran was not yet over.
The latest diplomatic push comes amid continued efforts by Washington to broker a broader security arrangement between Israel and Lebanon, even as hostilities on the ground threaten to undermine progress at the negotiating table.
