Israel and Lebanon’s ambassadors began huddling in DC on Tuesday to try to broker a peace deal between the Jewish state and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, which already said it won’t abide by any pact.
The powwow, led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, represented the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in 33 years.
Rubio was joined by US Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh.
“All of the complexities of this matter are not going to be resolved in the next six hours, but we can begin to move forward and create the framework for something can happen, something very positive, something very permanent, so the people of Lebanon can have the kind of future they deserve, and so that the people of Israel can live without fear,” Rubio told reporters as the meeting got under way.
The deal looks to end the fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah, which continued to exchange fire Tuesday, with rocket blasts reported against both sides of the border.
The conflict between the two sides was reignited over the US-Israel war against Iran, with missiles bombarding northern Israel and southern Lebanon on a daily basis.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest conflict broke out March 2, according to health officials, who do not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that a clear goal of the peace talks was to see Hezbollah disarm, with the Jewish state vowing that it would not agree to a temporary cease-fire, only a permanent end to the fighting.
Hours before the negotiations in Washington began, Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of Hezbollah’s political council, said the militant group would not abide by whatever is agreed to in the peace talks.
“As for the outcomes of this negotiation between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy, we are not interested in or concerned with them at all,” Safa told the Associated Press. “We are not bound by what they agree to.”
