Israel, Lebanon leaders to meet in US, Trump says

WASHINGTON — The United States has announced that Israel-Lebanon talks will take place on Thursday, but there was no confirmation from Lebanon.

"Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon," US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday on social media.

"It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow," Trump said. The post did not give any further details.

Gila Gamliel, a member of Israel's security cabinet, told Israel's Army Radio that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would "speak for the first time with the president of Lebanon after so many years of no contact between the two countries".

"This move will hopefully ultimately lead to prosperity and flourishing for Lebanon as a state," she added.

The statement was the first confirmation from an official Israeli source that talks would take place.

However, a senior Lebanese official told Reuters that Lebanon had no information about a call between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Netanyahu.

In addition, an official Lebanese source told Agence France-Presse that "we are not aware of any planned contact with the Israeli side, and we have not been informed of any through official channels".

Israel and Lebanon agreed during a meeting between their ambassadors in Washington on Tuesday to begin direct negotiations.

Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday of two central objectives in the talks, "First, the dismantling of Hezbollah; second, a sustainable peace ... achieved through strength."

Lebanon's ambassador to the US, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, said she had called for a ceasefire in Lebanon during the meeting, which Israel has so far rejected.

Lebanon also urged concrete measures to ease the severe humanitarian crisis resulting from the US-Israeli war with Iran, according to a US State Department statement.

The meeting marked the first major high-level engagement between Israel and Lebanon since 1993, it said.

Hezbollah condemned the talks as "capitulation".

On the ground, the Israeli army on Thursday urged civilians to evacuate the entire area of southern Lebanon up to the Zahrani River, about 40 kilometers north of the border.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for several drone attacks targeting military positions in northern Israel and on Lebanese territory.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported clashes in Bint Jbeil, a town 5 kilometers from the border where Hezbollah fighters are battling the Israeli army.

Agencies - Xinhua