President Trump says leaders of Israel and Lebanon will speak Thursday, as Washington pushes to ease hostilities after the rivals’ first direct talks in decades on Tuesday.
“Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon,” Mr. Trump said late Wednesday on his Truth Social platform, apparently referring to the meeting held in Washington the day before – the first direct negotiations between senior officials from the two countries since 1993 — and to Thursday’s planned discussion.
He didn’t identify Thursday’s participants or give details but said, “It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow. Nice!”
Israeli Army Radio, also known as GLZ Radio, said Thursday that, “Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel confirmed in an interview that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.”
GLZ quoted Gamliel as saying, “I hope that this move will ultimately lead to prosperity and flourishing for Lebanon as a country. This is a move that was conceived over time.”
A senior Trump administration official said earlier that the president would “welcome” an end to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, but stressed that any such outcome isn’t part of talks between Washington and Tehran.
Iran disagrees strongly, and called Israel’s ongoing attacks in Lebanon a violation of the ongoing two-week ceasefire between Tehran and Washington. The ceasefire has held, however, after Israel scaled back its strikes in Lebanon’s capital and other areas away from the south of the country, where it continues to occupy ground.
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war on March 2 after the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah attacked Israel.
Since then, Israeli strikes have killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon, health officials there say, and displaced more than one million in that nation, and Israeli ground forces have invaded Lebanon’s south.
