The US ambassador to Lebanon hails the Lebanese president’s proposal to launch direct negotiations with Israel to put an end to the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Tehran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2, to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We appreciate the importance of the issue for the president and the importance of his responsibility in finally deciding that he must meet with the Israelis, because matters are not resolved without talking,” Michel Issa tells journalists following a meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai in Beirut.
“Each party has their point of view of how meetings start,” he says, however adding that he believed Israel “has decided not to stop” striking Lebanon yet.
“That means Lebanon has to decide whether it can meet the Israelis in this case,” he says.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun on March 9 proposed direct talks with Israel, but Israel has since said there are no talks planned.
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