Shafaq News- Washington

Lebanon and Israel met Tuesday at the US State Department in Washington in their first direct ambassador-level contact since 1993, with the two sides entering the talks divided over core objectives.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said today he hopes the Washington meeting will mark "a beginning to ending the suffering of the Lebanese people."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended alongside Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter, Lebanese Ambassador to the United States Nada Hamadeh Mouawad, and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa.

Lebanon entered the talks seeking a firm ceasefire commitment as a precondition to broader negotiations, a position the Lebanese government has maintained publicly since the latest escalation began. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he agreed to the talks in response to Lebanese requests, framing the engagement around Hezbollah's disarmament and the eventual normalization of relations between the two parties. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said earlier Tuesday that Tel Aviv's objective was "peace and normalization" with Lebanon.

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The two sides entered the session with sharply divergent positions. Israeli media reported that Tel Aviv agreed only to limit strikes on Beirut and reduce the intensity of operations elsewhere in Lebanon, stopping short of a ceasefire. An Israeli official was quoted as saying Israel had not come to release "peace doves." A US official told The Times of Israel that disarming Hezbollah remains Washington's primary focus in the negotiations.

In the opening session, Rubio described the talks as "a historic opportunity" and acknowledged the parties were "dealing with decades of history and complexities." He framed Washington's objective as bringing "an end to thirty years of Hezbollah's influence in Lebanon."

Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group and political party that has been the central subject of Israeli military operations since the latest round of fighting began, publicly opposed the talks. Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, in a televised address Monday, called the negotiations "futile" and said no party had the right to commit Lebanon to a diplomatic path without internal consensus.

Wafiq Safa, a senior member of Hezbollah's political council, told the Associated Press on the eve of the talks that the group was "not interested in or concerned with them at all" and would not be bound by any agreement reached.

Seventeen countries, including Britain and France, issued a joint statement welcoming the talks and urging both sides to "seize the opportunity." The statement called for Lebanon's inclusion in broader regional de-escalation efforts and said direct negotiations could open a path toward lasting security across the region.

#Lebanon | We, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of 🇦🇺 🇧🇪🇭🇷 🇨🇾🇩🇰🇫🇮🇫🇷🇬🇷 🇮🇪🇮🇸 🇱🇺 🇲🇹🇳🇱🇵🇹🇳🇴🇬🇧🇸🇮 🇪🇸 and🇸🇪 call for the inclusion of Lebanon in the regional de-escalation efforts.➡️ https://t.co/ub6vSf8hcl pic.twitter.com/PcAYvolOGD

— France Diplomacy 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@francediplo_EN) April 14, 2026

The Washington talks follow a March 9 initiative by President Aoun, who called for a full cessation of Israeli hostilities, army deployment to tension areas, the confiscation of all unauthorized weapons, and the opening of direct negotiations with Israel. The two sides have no formal diplomatic relations. Lebanon has been under sustained Israeli bombardment since Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel on March 2; Lebanese health authorities have reported more than 2,000 deaths from Israeli strikes over the past six weeks.

Fighting continued on the day of the talks, with the Lebanese Ministry of Health reporting 35 killed and 159 wounded in the last 24 hours in the south and Beqaa. The Israeli army said it eliminated a Hezbollah cell it engaged overnight in the southern Lebanese city of Bint Jbeil.

The Washington talks are framed by both US and Israeli officials as preparatory, intended to establish a framework for future negotiations rather than produce an immediate agreement, according to an official briefed on Israeli strategy who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity.