Israel and Lebanon set for US talks to defuse war with Hezbollah

Lebanon is set to begin U.S.-hosted negotiations with Israel in an effort to pause a war with Hezbollah that’s wreaking havoc in the country.

While they will mark the first direct talks between the two Middle Eastern countries in more than three decades, few officials expect an immediate positive outcome. A sustained war in Lebanon risks undermining U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to wind down a parallel conflict with Iran, the main sponsor of Hezbollah, that’s sent oil and other energy prices soaring.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to the negotiations amid pressure from Washington. That came after the Israeli military escalated its campaign against Hezbollah shortly after Washington and Tehran agreed to a two-week ceasefire. Israel’s massive strikes across much of Lebanon on April 8 killed more than 350 people, according to the Lebanese government, prompting criticism from Arab and European governments.

Israel claims the majority of those killed were Hezbollah commanders and fighters hiding in civilian areas, though Lebanon says many bodies are still under rubble and haven’t been identified. Lebanese authorities say many of the victims were children.

Trump said he called Netanyahu after the strikes and that the Israeli leader agreed to de-escalate the offensive.

A major obstacle in the talks is that Israel and Lebanon are not directly fighting each other, and Hezbollah — a political party that’s also one of the world’s most powerful militant groups — hasn’t been invited to the discussions. Hezbollah is classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and many other governments.

“If we just put Hezbollah to the side and just Israel and Lebanon negotiate peace, then two months, three months, we’ve got a complete peace agreement,” Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., told CBS News ahead of his meeting with Lebanese counterpart Nada Hamadeh. They will be joined by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Israel invaded Lebanon last month after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Iran, then under an intense U.S.-Israeli bombardment.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon and displaced at least a million, according to the Lebanese government, while destroying parts of Beirut and scores of villages and towns in the south of the country. Israel has said it will take control of large swaths of southern Lebanon and prevent more than 600,000 residents from returning so as to create a buffer zone near the countries’ border.

Two Israeli civilians and thirteen soldiers have been killed in the fighting with Hezbollah. The thousands of Hezbollah attacks have forced many northern Israelis into shelters on a frequent basis.

“There is now an available opportunity to reach a sustainable solution, which is what Lebanon wants,” Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said late Monday, referring to talks with Israel. “But this cannot be one-sided. Israel must respond to the Lebanese, Arab, and international calls to stop its aggressions against Lebanon.”

Hezbollah’s strikes on Israel ended a fragile ceasefire between the Islamist group and the Jewish state that began in late 2024. The Lebanese government pledged to disarm Hezbollah as part of that agreement, though hasn’t done so, a source of deep frustration for Netanyahu and his government.

The last time Lebanon and Israel directly negotiated peace was in 1993 as part of the post-Madrid Peace Conference activities. Those talks failed and the countries still don’t formally recognize one another.

The U.S. mediated the truce between Israel and Hezbollah in 2024, after a two-month conflict between the sides that devastated swaths of Lebanon and severely weakened the military group. Two years before that, in indirect talks brokered by Washington, Israel and Lebanon agreed to demarcate their maritime borders as part of attempts to exploit offshore natural gas reserves.

With the latest negotiations, Lebanon wants a ceasefire before discussing longer-term issues. Netanyahu, for his part, has refused to pause attacks on Hezbollah and demanded the group first lays down arms.

“If the Lebanese government doesn’t face down Hezbollah, the Lebanese government will have to face down Israel,” Avi Dichter, a member of the Israeli Cabinet, told the country’s Channel 12 TV network this week.

Iran wanted Lebanon to be included in its own ceasefire with the U.S. and Israel. Peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran concluded in Pakistan on Sunday without a deal, though this was more to do with disagreements over Iran’s nuclear program.

Hezbollah, despite being battered in the 2024 war with Israel, is still heavily armed and has sought to cast this week’s talks as a national betrayal. While many Lebanese resent the group for restarting conflict with Israel last month, it retains plenty of support among Shiites in the country.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qasem said the government in Lebanon was giving “free concessions” to Israel and said any deal “required consensus among the Lebanese.”

He also said that Israel needs to stop its attacks and withdraw from south Lebanon. Qasem vowed that “the resistance would continue until its last breath.”

There are fears in Lebanon that Hezbollah will look to thwart the talks and try to overthrow the government. Hundreds of the group’s supporters protested over the weekend against the talks with Israel.

Lebanon’s Industry Minister Joe Issa El-Khoury said there’s no evidence Hezbollah is preparing to topple the government but the group has used such tactics before.

“Hezbollah is, in a way, cornered between a military war held by Israel and the fact that the government took the initiative in triggering a diplomatic” step with the Israelis, El-Khoury told Bloomberg TV.

Even if the talks succeed and a peace treaty between the Israeli and Lebanese governments is signed, a scenario where Hezbollah would surrender its arms remains far fetched. The group has deep ideological and strategic ties to Iran’s theocratic rulers and powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which see Hezbollah as a line of defense against Israel.

“Starting negotiations and a peace deal are two very different things,” said Joseph Daher, author of Hezbollah: The Political Economy of Lebanon’s Party of God. “Without the fall of the Islamic Republic of Iran, it’s very hard to see Hezbollah surrendering its arms.”

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—With assistance from Joumanna Bercetche.