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Lebanon and Israel will hold a new round of talks in Washington on May 14-15, a U.S. official said Thursday, despite a new Israeli strike in Beirut that killed a senior Hezbollah commander.
The talks will be the third round between Israel and Lebanon, which have no diplomatic relations and had not spoken directly for decades.
“There will be talks between Lebanon and Israel Thursday and Friday next week in Washington,” a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.
The two previous rounds of talks in Washington were held between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States.
The announcement came after Israel carried out a strike late Wednesday in the heart of Beirut, killing a senior commander of Hezbollah.
Israel said it would continue targeting the Iranian-backed group despite a ceasefire in place in Lebanon.
An Israeli strike on Wednesday also killed four people in the eastern Bekaa Valley, with Israel saying it was targeting Hezbollah.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed more than 2,700 people since March 2, including dozens since the ceasefire was declared, according to Lebanese authorities.
At the last talks on April 23, the two sides met in the White House with President Donald Trump, who announced a three-week extension of the ceasefire.
Trump also said he expected a historic meeting within the ceasefire period between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
Aoun said Monday the timing was not yet right for a meeting, saying the two countries must first reach a security agreement.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that “there’s no problem between the Lebanese government and the Israeli government” and that Hezbollah was the issue.
“By and large, I think a peace deal between Lebanon and Israel is eminently achievable and should be,” Rubio said.
Israel has carried out heavy bombings of Lebanon as well as a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
It was responding to rocket fire by Hezbollah, a Shiite group backed by Iran’s ruling clerics. Hezbollah had vowed to avenge the killing of Iran’s longtime supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, at the start of the war on Iran launched by Trump and Netanyahu on Feb. 28.
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