Israeli, Lebanese military officials to meet for talks at the Pentagon Friday

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Israel and Lebanon will reconvene for negotiations on Friday at the Pentagon, with military officials from both sides set to discuss steps aimed at combating Hezbollah.

While negotiators have held three rounds of talks in recent weeks at the State Department, this will be the first meeting of strictly military personnel after the sides agreed to split up the process into security and diplomatic tracks.

Accordingly, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter will not be participating in the Friday talks at the Pentagon, an embassy official says.

The first meeting of the diplomatic track will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday next week at the State Department.

The Israeli embassy official says no major announcements are expected following Friday’s meeting, and the sides still face an uphill battle to reach a deal that would see the countries normalize ties and successfully disarm Hezbollah, which is adamantly opposed to the process.

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