Rubio Hosts Israel and Lebanon for Rare Meeting Shadowed by U.S.-Iran War

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The gathering ended with encouraging words, even as Israel continued to refuse to halt its military campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Lebanon and Israel Hold Rare In-Person Talks
While the talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington did not yield a cease-fire agreement, both sides agreed to “launch direct negotiations” after having “productive discussions,” according to a statement from the U.S. State Department.Oliver Contreras/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Israeli and Lebanese officials held rare direct talks on Tuesday, as the Trump administration convened neighbors who share one of the Middle East’s most violent borders as it tries to roll back Iranian influence.

The talks, hosted at the State Department by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, concluded with encouraging words and talk of further meetings, albeit no firm commitments and no change in Israel’s refusal to halt its punishing military campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in the country.

But the very fact of the gathering underscored the degree to which Israel and Lebanon have come to share the goal of disarming Hezbollah, the militia group based in southern Lebanon. Neither Iran nor Hezbollah was part of the talks, which both oppose.

“We are on the same side, we and the Lebanese, that the evil of Hezbollah must be eradicated,” Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, said after meeting with his Lebanese counterpart, Mr. Rubio and other U.S. officials for more than two hours. Mr. Rubio said the talks were a step toward “bringing a permanent end to 20 or 30 years of Hezbollah’s influence in this part of the world.”

Although Lebanese officials used more cautious language, they were sympathetic. A person familiar with the discussions said they reiterated their desire to force Hezbollah to lay down its weapons and asked for American aid for Lebanon’s underequipped armed forces to carry out the dangerous task.

The meeting on the State Department’s top floor was officially separate from President Trump’s diplomatic efforts to reach a peace agreement with Iran, and U.S. and Israeli officials made clear they do not consider Lebanon to be part of those negotiations.

Source https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/us/politics/israel-lebanon-talks.html

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