Israel-Lebanon Talks Proceed at Pentagon Despite Five Killed in Southern Lebanon Strikes
Israeli and Lebanese military officials met at the Pentagon on Friday for the first round of formal direct talks aimed at resolving their decades-long conflict. The talks proceeded despite five killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon today — four in an Israeli strike on a building in Abbasiyeh near Tyre, one in an airstrike on Deir Qanoun. Israeli Northern Command sources told the Jerusalem Post they fear a US-Iran ceasefire could freeze IDF operational latitude in Lebanon. The IDF says it has killed 2,500 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon since the start of the year.
The Pentagon meeting is the structural first step in formalising a Lebanon-track agreement that the US and Israel insist is separate from the US-Iran framework. Iran continues to insist Lebanon is covered by the deal. Resolution of the Lebanon coverage question is one of the binding sticking points in the Iran framework architecture. Hezbollah says it carried out 37 attacks on Israeli forces this week; the Lebanese health ministry says Israel has killed more than 1,200 in Lebanon this year. The Northern Command fear — that the Iran deal could constrain Israeli operations in Lebanon — is one of the principal pressures on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. Netanyahu has separately told confidants Israel has “no manoeuvre to influence the president right now” on the Iran deal.