Iran has demanded a lasting ceasefire in Lebanon before any agreement to end the wider war in the region, and it has frustrated Trump by refusing his appeals for an accord on his terms.
The Middle East war has roiled the global economy and impacted hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Israeli attacks since Mar 2 have killed more than 2,800 people in Lebanon, including at least 200 children, according to Lebanese authorities, a toll Hezbollah says includes its fighters.
Israel has pounded Hezbollah strongholds in the south and Beirut’s southern suburbs, and has invaded the border region, parts of which Israel previously occupied for around two decades until withdrawing in 2000.
DISARMAMENT PUSH
Lebanon has repeatedly called for Israel to withdraw its troops from the south, and insists on extending state sovereignty over all its territory as part of a commitment last year to disarm Hezbollah.
Washington has endorsed Beirut’s commitment to do so, while pressing it to take more action.
The United States believes “comprehensive peace is contingent on the full restoration of Lebanese state authority and the complete disarmament of Hezbollah,” a State Department statement said.
“These talks aim to break decisively from the failed approach of the past two decades, which allowed terrorist groups to entrench and enrich themselves, undermine the authority of the Lebanese state, and endanger Israel’s northern border,” it said.
Thursday’s meeting will be the third round of talks between the two countries, which have no diplomatic relations.
Unlike the previous two rounds, neither Secretary of State Marco Rubio nor Trump will participate as both are on a state visit to China.
The US mediators for the two-day meeting at the State Department will include the ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon — respectively Mike Huckabee, an evangelical pastor and staunch supporter of Israel’s regional ambitions, and Michel Issa, a Lebanese-born businessman and golf partner of Trump — as well as Mike Needham, a close aide to Rubio.
Lebanon will be represented by special envoy Simon Karam, a veteran lawyer and diplomat who has fiercely defended Lebanon’s sovereignty, as well as its ambassador in Washington.
Israel’s team will include its ambassador in Washington, Yechiel Leiter, a Netanyahu ally who is close with the Israeli settler movement in the occupied West Bank.