US said pushing Israel to agree to ceasefire ahead of Tuesday talks with Lebanon

Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter is slated to hold a first-of-its-kind phone call this afternoon with his Lebanese counterpart Nada Hamadeh-Moawad in preparation for the pair meeting in-person in Washington for direct talks on a long-term ceasefire, the disarmament of Hezbollah, and normalization between Jerusalem and Beirut, Channel 12 reports.

A senior official from the US State Department will also be taking part in today’s phone call, as well as next week’s in-person meeting on Tuesday.

Ahead of the Tuesday meeting, Washington and Beirut are pushing Israel to agree to a ceasefire in Lebanon as a demonstration of Jerusalem’s seriousness about reaching an agreement, Channel 12 says.

In making the case to Israel, US officials have argued that the ceasefire would be framed as an achievement by the Lebanese government, as opposed to a win for Iran, which had been demanding its truce with the US cover Lebanon, to no avail.

Israel hasn’t yet made a decision on the matter, but there are some senior officials in Jerusalem arguing in favor of agreeing to a ceasefire, as it would merely return the sides to the terms of the previous truce from November 2024, under which the IDF is allowed to carry out attacks against threats deemed imminent.

Such strikes have taken place in southern Lebanon over the past year and a half on a very regular basis.