Israel and Lebanon will resume negotiations with two days of intensive talks facilitated by the US on May 14 and 15, the US State Department announced on Friday.
Delegations from both countries will meet in order to form a “comprehensive peace and security agreement that substantively addresses the core concerns of both countries,” according to the State Department press release.
Discussions are expected to address the delineation of borders, concrete pathways for humanitarian relief and reconstruction, and “the full restoration of Lebanese sovereignty throughout its territory,” it continued.
The statement also added that “comprehensive peace is contingent on the full restoration of Lebanese state authority and the complete disarmament of Hezbollah.”
Salam commits to negotiating for peace, not normalization
Earlier on Friday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stated that the Lebanese government is “committed to ensuring that weapons are solely in the hands of the state, in accordance with the decisions of the Lebanese government,” in an interview with Al-Jazeera, according to a report by Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI).
Salam said he believed that negotiations between Israel and Lebanon could end the conflict between the two countries, adding that Lebanon would propose an end to Israeli strikes on the region, the release of prisoners, and a phased withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Salam had assured reporters on Wednesday that Lebanon was not heading towards normalization, but towards peace with Israel, LBCI reported.
He added that the meeting did not mean the Israel-Lebanon talks were completely divorced from those between the US and Iran.
“Lebanon succeeded in establishing that it is negotiating on its own behalf, but this does not mean the Lebanese track is completely separate from the negotiations track in Islamabad,” LBCI cited Salam as saying.
Rubio emphasizes importance of disarming Hezbollah
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the importance of disarming Hezbollah while speaking to reporters on Friday.
“We want the relations between Israel and Lebanon, its legitimate government, to be very strong. The impediment to that is Hezbollah,” Rubio said.
Rubio explained that the US aims to empower the Lebanese government to be able to deal with the threat of Hezbollah, and called on other countries to help equip the government and to help cut off Hezbollah’s financing.
“We all share the same goal, which is a strong Lebanese government that doesn’t have an armed Hezbollah operating within its national territory,” Rubio stated.
