Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Al-Hosh area near the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre. AFP
The meeting, mediated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will include the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington and the US ambassador to Beirut.
"The Israeli and Lebanese governments are engaging in open, direct, high-level diplomatic talks -- the first such talks since 1993 -- brokered by the United States," a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.
"This conversation will scope the ongoing dialogue about how to ensure the long-term security of Israel's northern border and to support the government of Lebanon's determination to reclaim full sovereignty over its territory," the official added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that "we want the dismantling of Hezbollah's weapons, and we want a real peace agreement that will last for generations."
On the Lebanese side, President Joseph Aoun said Monday he hoped the Washington talks would yield "an agreement... on a ceasefire in Lebanon, to start direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel."
On Monday, Naim Qassem -- the leader of Hezbollah, which is battling Israel in southern Lebanon -- called for the talks to be scrapped before they even began, calling on the government to insist that the Israeli side end its war on the country and implement the terms of the November 2024 ceasefire.
Since 2 March, two days after the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, Israeli airstrikes -- including an extremely heavy attack on Beirut on April 8 -- have killed more than 2,000 and wounded nearly 7,000 people, displaced more than one million, despite international calls for a ceasefire.
The US and Israel had refused to stop the Israeli strikes on Lebanon despite confirmations from Pakistani mediators that Washington had agreed to include Lebanon in the two-week ceasefire reached with Tehran on 8 April.
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