The upcoming meeting in Washington is expected to focus on establishing a ceasefire in Lebanon, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio participating alongside Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, and Lebanon’s Ambassador to the US, Nada Hamadeh Moawad. According to the Lebanese presidency, the ambassadors agreed to the meeting in a first phone call, aiming to seek an announcement on a ceasefire and a date for direct negotiations. These talks will be the first between Lebanon and Israel since 1993.
The move follows a proposal by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to negotiate directly with Israel, an offer that Israel ignored until last week. Multiple reports indicate that Israel's delayed response came after the US agreed a ceasefire with Iran and Israel carried out widespread air strikes that killed more than 300 people in just one day in Lebanon. Israel did not respond positively until after it launched 100 strikes across the country, including in the heart of the Lebanese capital.
The context for these talks is a fragile ceasefire that was in place in Lebanon, ending the war between Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024. During this ceasefire, Israel was carrying out near-daily attacks on what it described as people and targets linked to Hezbollah. The situation deteriorated further when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a strike on the first day of the US-Israeli bombardment of Tehran in February.
Israel responded with air strikes and another ground invasion of southern Lebanon. Some Israeli officials have said the invasion aims to create a depopulated “security zone” from the border to the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles). The human cost of the conflict has been severe in Lebanon.
Hezbollah said the rocket fire was in retaliation for Khamenei's death and the constant Israeli bombing during the ceasefire.
The Health Ministry reports at least 2,089 fatalities from Israeli strikes, including 252 women, 166 children, and 88 medical workers, with 6,762 wounded and over one million displaced. According to Lebanese authorities, victims of the latest Israeli attacks also included seven members of the same family in the town of Abbassieh and 11 people in Zrarieh. Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun stated that 13 state security personnel had been killed by strikes on the southern city of Nabatieh.
The Lebanese health ministry reports that the death toll from Wednesday's massive bombardment had risen to 357, with 1,223 people injured, though the ministry notes the toll is still not final due to the ongoing removal of rubble and the presence of a large amount of human remains requiring DNA testing. Hezbollah, a central actor in this conflict, was created in the 1980s during Israel's occupation of Lebanon in the Lebanese Civil War. The group has been financed, trained and armed by Iran from its beginning, and the destruction of Israel remains one of Hezbollah's official goals.
In 1989, the Taif Agreement mandated the disarmament of all militias and introduced a power-sharing deal between sects in Lebanon, but Hezbollah managed to keep its weapons after the agreement, branding itself as a resistance movement fighting the Israeli occupation. Lebanese political dynamics are deeply divided over Hezbollah's role. President Joseph Aoun came to power vowing to disarm non-state groups including Hezbollah, taking office after a devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah, at which point Hezbollah had been weakened and was isolated at home.
For Hezbollah's supporters, the group is their only protection against Israel, which they see as an enemy intent on capturing Lebanese land. Opponents, however, accuse Hezbollah of defending the interests of its Iranian patron, dragging the country into unwanted and unnecessary wars. Hezbollah and critics are skeptical and believe Lebanon's government in Beirut has no leverage and should take advantage of the position of Iran, the group's key ally and patron.
"Israel’s destruction of Lebanese territories is not the solution, nor will it yield any results," said President Joseph Aoun Monday.
The negotiation positions ahead of the Washington meeting reveal significant hurdles. S. and Iran.
Lebanon insists on representing itself in talks, despite Iran making ending regional conflicts a condition for its own talks with the United States. Israel, however, has ruled out a ceasefire. According to Israel's ambassador to Washington, Israel refuses to discuss a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
The broader regional context includes a series of escalatory attacks. On February 28, Israel and the US carried out a coordinated attack against Iran, and they have also attacked targets in Lebanon. On the night to Wednesday, April 8, a preliminary ceasefire was entered into between the US, Israel and Iran.
This ceasefire, however, has been contested in its application to Lebanon, contributing to the current diplomatic push. The diplomatic process leading to the Washington meeting involved several steps. According to the Lebanese president's office, during the call the ambassadors agreed to the meeting at the US State Department.
"Diplomatic solutions have consistently proven to be the most effective means of resolving armed conflicts globally," said President Joseph Aoun Monday.
A senior official from the president's office says delegations will meet on Tuesday to discuss ceasefire conditions, and if they can agree on conditions for a ceasefire then negotiations will go ahead at a later date and time. Research indicates that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had authorised direct talks following repeated requests from the Lebanese government. A senior presidency official states that negotiations could only happen with a ceasefire in place, while Israel's ambassador to Washington says formal peace negotiations would begin with Lebanon.
Direct talks between Lebanon and Israel are highly unusual, with the two countries historically communicating through intermediaries. Efforts to establish negotiations have been ongoing since a ceasefire agreement in November 2024, with US envoys previously mediating indirect talks between the two sides. A fierce dispute exists over whether Lebanon was included in the US-Iran ceasefire declared by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
Pakistan, which mediated the truce, and Iran say Lebanon was included in the ceasefire, but the US and Israel say Lebanon was not included. This disagreement has fueled accusations of violations; Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh stated that Israeli strikes on Lebanon constituted a grave violation of the ceasefire, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted there was no ceasefire in Lebanon. Military claims continue to highlight the ongoing violence.
The Israeli military reports that the wave of attacks across the country had killed at least 180 Hezbollah terrorists from the Lebanese armed group. Despite being weakened in its last war with Israel that ended in November 2024, Hezbollah still fires drones, rockets and artillery daily into northern Israel and on ground troops inside Lebanon. Reactions to the continued violence have been sharp.
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun condemned the continued attacks. Iranian officials have also accused Israel of violating the ceasefire, as noted by Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister. The implications of the Washington meeting are significant.
If the parties can agree on conditions for a ceasefire, negotiations will go ahead at a later date and time, potentially paving the way for formal peace talks. Several key unknowns remain as the diplomats prepare to meet. It is unclear whether Hezbollah will be directly involved in or bound by any ceasefire agreement resulting from the talks, given Israel's refusal to negotiate with the group.
How the ongoing Israeli ground invasion in southern Lebanon will affect the diplomatic negotiations remains to be seen. Furthermore, the final death toll from recent Israeli bombardments in Lebanon is still being verified, as numbers require further DNA testing and rubble removal.