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.
“Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon,” Trump wrote. “It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow. Nice!”
The US president did not specify which leaders would be involved in the talks.
There was no official comment from Israel or Lebanon.
However, Gila Gamliel, a member of Israel’s security cabinet, told Israel’s Army Radio on Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be speaking with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. Lebanese officials told news agencies they had “no information” about any upcoming contact or talks with Israel’s leadership.
Lebanon was pulled into the US-Israel war on Iran on March 2, after Tehran-aligned Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel.
Hezbollah said the attacks were in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war, on February 28, as well as Israel’s near-daily violations of a ceasefire it agreed to in Lebanon in November 2024.
Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon and displaced some 1.2 million. The Israeli military has also launched a ground invasion in southern Lebanon, seeking to seize more territory and create what it calls a “buffer zone.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to expand the invasion in southern Lebanon, towards the east.
He said Israel was pursuing negotiations with the Lebanese government alongside its military campaign against Hezbollah in the hopes of disarming the group and achieving a “sustainable peace” with its northern neighbor.
The Lebanese government, which is not a party to the conflict, has said it is seeking a ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.
“Controversial’ statement
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, said there has been no information from the Lebanese government on Trump’s statement yet.
She described the US president’s remarks as “controversial.”
“This is really a taboo in Lebanon for a Lebanese leader and Israeli leader to speak at a time that both countries are still technically at war, at a time that Israel continues to attack the country,” she said.
“Now, could Trump be talking about a possible ceasefire? We know that the US administration has been pushing very hard on the Lebanon-Israel track to separate the Lebanon front from the Iran front,” she said. “This is what the whole meeting was about in Washington, DC – a photo opportunity and attempt to make sure that Hezbollah influence is weakened over Lebanon and that Iran’s influence is weakened over Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, despite the diplomatic push, Israel has continued to launch deadly attacks on Lebanese civilians. On Wednesday, the Israeli military launched three consecutive strikes in the village of Mayfadoun, killing four Lebanese paramedics and wounding six others.
According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, Israeli forces have killed at least 91 Lebanese medical workers since March 2 and struck several medical facilities.
Al Jazeera’s Khodr said Israeli forces had also launched additional attacks in the vicinity of one of the last remaining hospitals in southern Lebanon, in the town of Tebnine. “There’ve been two consecutive days of strikes around that hospital. It is clear Israel doesn’t want this area to be liveable,” she reported, referring to Israeli attacks that have destroyed civilian infrastructure, including bridges and thousands of homes.
Fighting was also continuing around the town of Bint Jbeil.
Israel’s military has said its troops have encircled the strategic hilltop town, but Hezbollah said its fighters inside the town were continuing to fight back.
“Israel is looking for some sort of military gain to claim victory. Bint Jbeil would be symbolic because it wasn’t able to take control of the town during the last war in 2006, during 2024,” Khodr said.
At the end of the day, she noted, both Israel and the US know Israel will have to occupy the whole of Lebanon if they want to disarm Hezbollah, something that would be costly and difficult to do.
“Israel can continue to kill and destroy, but that will not change the fact that Hezbollah is not going to give up its arms. It needs the Lebanese government to partner with it in order for the disarmament process to begin,” she added. “So we have to wait to see whether indeed a ceasefire will be in place.”
