US to host ‘Israel’-Lebanon talks as strikes threaten Iran ceasefire

‘Israel’ and Lebanon will hold talks in Washington next week, a State Department official said Thursday, amid mounting international concerns that ‘Israel's’ bombings could shatter an already fragile US-Iran ceasefire.

‘Israel's’ heaviest strikes on Lebanon since Hezbollah entered the Middle East war in early March killed hundreds on Wednesday, rattling the uneasy truce between Washington and Tehran less than 48 hours after it came into force.

"We can confirm that the Department will host a meeting next week to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel and Lebanon," the US official said.

‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier on Thursday ordered his ministers to seek direct talks with Lebanon, pushing for Iran-backed Hezbollah's disarmament.

But a Lebanese government official told AFP that Beirut required a truce before starting any negotiations with ‘Israel’, a day after the deadly strikes across the country.

Neither ‘Israel’ nor Lebanon have publicly confirmed the US talks for next week.

Hezbollah said it was engaged in close quarters combat against ‘Israeli’ forces on the ground in southern Lebanon on Thursday, as Lebanese authorities said ‘Israeli’ strikes killed at least 303 people and wounded 1,150 the previous day.

The Iran-allied group also said it had fired rockets towards ‘Israel’ on Thursday in response to what it called a violation of the ceasefire.

‘Israel's’ army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir visited ground troops inside Lebanon on Thursday, telling them Hezbollah had suffered a "heavy blow" from the strikes a day earlier.

Netanyahu's order for direct negotiations with Lebanon's government was focused on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peace, according to a statement from his office, but he offered no immediate respite from the aerial attacks.

A Hezbollah lawmaker later reiterated his group's "rejection of any direct negotiations between Lebanon" and Israel.

Fearing the truce may be in jeopardy, Brussels, Moscow and Ankara demanded that the US-Iran ceasefire be extended to Lebanon.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that "the severity with which Israel is waging war there could cause the peace process as a whole to fail, and that must not be allowed to happen."

"Let's be really clear about it, they're wrong," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told ITV News when asked about Israel's insistence that Lebanon was not covered by the ceasefire.

Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran sees Lebanon as an "inseparable part of the ceasefire," while President Masoud Pezeshkian said ‘Israel's’ strikes rendered "meaningless" talks with US envoys planned for the end of the week in Pakistan.