US hails 'productive' talks between Israel, Lebanon military officials
Military officials from Israel and Lebanon held "productive" talks in Washington on Friday, a U.S. official said, adding that the meeting will complement upcoming diplomatic discussions.
"Today at the Pentagon, I hosted military delegations from Israel and Lebanon for the security track supporting the ongoing peace talks between their two countries," Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's second-in-command, said on X.
"We held productive military-to-military discussions which will inform the Department of State-led political track next week," he said.
It was the first meeting between Israeli and Lebanese military officials in decades.
"The United States anticipates reconvening soon to continue the security track," Colby said.
He made no mention of the truce to halt fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon that was supposed to have taken effect on April 17, but has never been observed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Israel's forces had pushed deeper into Lebanon and continued heavy bombardment of the country's south.
Israeli strikes on Friday in three areas of Tyre, in southern Lebanon, killed 11 people including a rescuer, the country's health ministry said. Eight people were wounded.
Hezbollah said it had launched a series of attacks targeting soldiers, barracks and a military camp in northern Israel on Friday.
President Joseph Aoun stressed to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio "the need to exert all efforts to reach a ceasefire" as an essential first step for progress in negotiations.
The State Department said Rubio "commended President Aoun's courage and vision in pursuing direct negotiations with Israel" despite Hezbollah's opposition, adding the group was "entirely responsible for the ongoing fighting."
The meeting at the Pentagon took place amid ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran, with Tehran seeking to include the Lebanese front in any agreement aimed at ending the war in the Middle East.
Source: Agence France Presse
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