New talks with Lebanon aimed at normalizing ties, senior Israeli official says
Working groups established this week will focus on border, IDF presence, and Lebanese detainees, but Jerusalem is said to be aiming for a comprehensive agreement with its northern neighbor
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Israel is aiming to establish full diplomatic relations with Lebanon in talks that could open as early as next month, an Israeli official said on Wednesday.
“The goal is to reach normalization,” said the official, a day after Israel, Lebanon, France and the US met in southern Lebanon.
After Tuesday’s military-to-military meeting in the United Nations peacekeeping headquarters in Naqoura, Israel and Lebanon agreed to open negotiations to delineate the border between the two countries, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Israel and Lebanon do not recognize one other, but did sign a short-lived peace agreement in 1983. Israel in the past enjoyed deep military and economic ties with Christian factions in Lebanon.
In 2020, Israel normalized relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco. It also has long-standing ties with Egypt and Jordan.
Israel and US President Donald Trump’s administration announced that the four countries involved in Tuesday’s meeting would create working groups to discuss the Israel-Lebanon border, the ongoing presence of IDF troops in southern Lebanon, and Lebanese detainees held by Israel.
The next meeting will be between the political echelons of Israel and Lebanon, said the official. “This means official Israeli diplomacy within Lebanon.”
However, a Lebanese source told the pro-Iran Al-Mayadeen channel on Wednesday afternoon that ties with Israel are not on the table.
The three working groups, said the source, “are not separate from Resolution 1701, and will not engage in direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.”
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the previous round of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.
“Everything being said about these working groups being a prelude to normalization is completely false,” said the Lebanese source.
Israel released five Lebanese prisoners on Tuesday, said the Israeli official, so that Lebanon’s new President Joseph Aoun can show the public that he is able to bring results for the country without military conflict that destroys Lebanon.
“I am coming and trying the diplomatic way and I am bringing achievements,” said the Israeli official, paraphrasing what Israel hopes Aoun will convey to his country.
Aoun was elected in January after a more than two-year vacuum in the country’s top post, while diplomat and former head of the International Criminal Court Nawaf Salam was named prime minister. Both Aoun and Salam have said they will work on improving relations with Arab countries and implementing reforms.
The election of Aoun and Salam was seen as a major blow to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite terror group that Israel has battled for decades.
Lebanon said it had received four Lebanese “hostages” from Israel, with a fifth to be handed over on Wednesday, according to a statement by the Lebanese president’s office on X.
Citing two US officials, Axios reported that one of the Lebanese nationals released by Israel is a member of Hezbollah.
According to reports in Lebanon, a total of 11 Lebanese nationals are currently being held by Israel.
The working groups could meet as early as next month, according to Axios.
Jerusalem and Beirut negotiated a maritime boundary in 2022 — an agreement brokered by the US — but the two countries have yet to adopt an official land border.
A November 27, 2024, truce in Lebanon largely halted more than a year of hostilities initiated by Hezbollah, including two months of full-blown war during which Israel sent in ground troops.
The fighting began with attacks by the terror group on the Jewish state on October 8, 2023, in support of ally Hamas, which had invaded Israel from Gaza a day earlier. Persistent rocket fire from Lebanon displaced some 60,000 Israeli civilians.
“Everyone involved remains committed to maintaining the ceasefire agreement and to fully implement all its terms,” US Deputy Presidential Special Envoy Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. “We look forward to quickly convening these diplomat-led working groups to resolve outstanding issues, along with our international partners.”
On Sunday, Trump’s Arab and Mideast affairs adviser Massad Boulos met with a settler leader at his Washington, DC, home and said of the people “in Israel, in Lebanon, and in the entire region… we are looking forward to peace, and we are aiming for peace.”
“By the grace of God, this will be achieved hopefully soon.”
Last month, Israel withdrew all its forces from southern Lebanon, except five strategic points, saying it had received a green light from the US to remain at those posts and citing the need to prevent Hezbollah from returning to the area and threatening Israel.
Nava Freiberg and agencies contributed to this report.
