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Israel and Lebanon concluded the third round of peace talks, which lasted over eight hours at the US State Department on Thursday, according to a report by the Jerusalem Post.
The delegations from both countries will meet again on Friday for further discussions. A State Department official termed the talks "productive and positive". As per the Jerusalem Post, the official added, "We look forward to continuing this tomorrow and hope to have more to share then". According to the outlet, the US mediation of the talks was led by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Secretary of State Marco Rubio's adviser Michael Needham, and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michael Issa. The Israeli delegation was led by Israel's ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, who was accompanied by the IDF Head of Strategy, Brig.-Gen. Amichai Levin, a representative from the National Security Council, and the acting Israeli military attache in Washington. The Lebanese delegation comprised Lebanon's former ambassador to the US, Simon Karam, current Lebanese ambassador Nada Hamadeh Mouawad, and Lebanon's military attache in Washington. Prior to the negotiations, an Israeli official had told the Jerusalem Post that the talks aimed to discuss a framework for an agreement in greater depth. It was reported that this was the first round to be attended by military representatives and came shortly before the expiration of a three-week ceasefire extension, which was earlier announced by the US President on April 23. Meanwhile, Israeli military actions continue with the IDF sharing footage from the elimination of Hezbollah terrorists and the dismantling of terror infrastructure on its X handle, noting that since the beginning of the operation, "IDF troops have eliminated 400+ terrorists and located 1,000+ weapons used by Hezbollah terrorists". (ANI)
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