Israel‑Lebanon talks amid strikes
U.S.-hosted direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials began — the first such talks since 1993 — even as fighting continued on the ground. (aljazeera.com). Hezbollah rejected the American-brokered effort and Lebanese officials say more than 2,000 people have been killed since March 2, with Lebanon’s president urging the talks to produce a ceasefire. (cnn.com). Violence has continued in parallel: Israel has stepped up strikes on Lebanon while Hezbollah attacks persist, an Israeli strike was reported to have killed a Lebanese Red Cross paramedic, and Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed four people after new ceasefire discussions began. (bbc.com) (theguardian.com) (reuters.com)
Israeli and Lebanese officials opened direct talks in Washington on Tuesday as Israeli strikes and Hezbollah attacks continued across the border. (aljazeera.com) The meeting is the first direct Israel-Lebanon contact of its kind since 1993, and a person briefed on Israel’s position described Tuesday’s session as “preparatory” for a broader negotiating framework. (aljazeera.com) (npr.org) Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, said the talks should lead to a ceasefire, while Lebanese officials said Israeli attacks had killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon since March 2. (cnn.com) (aljazeera.com) Hezbollah rejected the United States-brokered effort before the meeting began. Naim Qassem, the group’s leader, called the talks “futile,” according to multiple reports. (aljazeera.com) (france24.com) The diplomacy is running alongside a widening war that pulled Lebanon deeper into the regional conflict on March 2, when Hezbollah attacked Israel after the United States strike on Iran. Israeli airstrikes since then have included a heavy attack on Beirut on April 8, and reports from this week said more than one million people had been displaced in Lebanon. (al-monitor.com) (france24.com) Violence continued as the talks approached. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Lebanese Red Cross paramedic Hassan Badawi was killed on April 12 while his ambulance team was responding after an earlier airstrike in Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon. (ifrc.org) In Gaza, separate United States-backed ceasefire contacts also failed to halt attacks. Reuters reported that Israeli airstrikes killed at least three Palestinians on April 13, and later reporting put the death toll from those strikes at four. (usnews.com) (yahoo.com) The Washington talks now face the same problem visible on the ground: officials are meeting directly for the first time in 33 years, but neither side’s armed campaign stopped when the talks started. (aljazeera.com) (france24.com)
