Updated April 14, 2026 at 11:38 AM EDT
BEIRUT and TEL AVIV — Lebanon and Israel are holding their first direct diplomatic talks in more than 30 years in Washington, D.C. The talks are aimed at preparing negotiations to resolve Israel's conflict with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.
The meeting — being held at the State Department between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States and joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio — is rare.
No major breakthrough is expected to result from the meeting. But an official briefed on Israel's strategy, who was not authorized to speak publicly, described Tuesday's talks to NPR as "preparatory" and meant to lay out a framework for future negotiations.
These talks come after six weeks of fighting between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon, where more than 2,100 people have been killed by Israeli strikes, according to Lebanese health officials. Hezbollah has also fired at Israel, killing at least 12 soldiers and two civilians, according to Israeli authorities. Israel invaded southern Lebanon, destroying 40,000 homes, according to Lebanese officials, and carrying out strikes killing Hezbollah operatives and civilians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz both joined invading troops inside Lebanon over the weekend, where Katz said Israel would remove the threat "just as we did in Gaza," including demolishing homes so they can't become "terror outposts."
Lebanon wants to negotiate a ceasefire, while Israel wants Lebanon to take steps to disarm Hezbollah first. Israel is preparing for a long-term occupation of southern Lebanon to keep Hezbollah away from Israel's border, according to the official.
The two countries have no formal relations, and their meeting comes amid a shaky two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. The continued dispute over whether the truce extended to Israel's attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon has undermined the tenuous agreement.
The talks between Israel and Lebanon are not supported by Hezbollah, which has called on the Lebanese government to cancel them.
Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade fire into Tuesday. Israeli airstrikes hit border villages that Israel says it is seizing from Lebanon to create what it calls a "security zone" to prevent Hezbollah from firing cross-border rockets.
Last week, more than 350 who were killed in Lebanon in a single day last week, many in central Beirut, after Israel struck 100 times in 10 minutes, according to Lebanese authorities.
President Trump said he urged Netanyahu to scale down Israeli attacks in Lebanon, as the U.S. seeks an agreement with Iran. Israel curbed attacks in the capital Beirut but has continued its offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where more than 100 people have been killed by Israel in recent days, according to Lebanese officials.
Hezbollah has launched rockets into northern Israel daily and fought against the invading Israeli military in southern Lebanon.
"These negotiations are futile," said Hezbollah's leader, Naim Qassem, in a televised speech on Monday. "No one has the right to take Lebanon down this path without internal consensus among its components — and this has not happened."
Israel says it will not agree to any deal unless there's a tangible plan with the Lebanese government for disarming Hezbollah.
But what influence the Lebanese government that's holding these talks has on Hezbollah remains unclear. Hezbollah is a major political party in Lebanon and holds seats in parliament. It is also a militia that operates largely independently of the Lebanese government and receives funding and direction from Iran.
Israel has long demanded that Hezbollah give up its weapons. But the group has continued to stockpile arms.
Lebanese citizens also deeply mistrust Israel's intentions. During a ceasefire agreed to in 2024 by Israel and Lebanon, which was in place until March 2 of this year, U.N. peacekeepers recorded more than 10,000 violations of that agreement, and nearly all of them were from Israel.
The expectations for the talks were low in Beirut on Tuesday.
"There will never be peace between Israel and Lebanon," said Ali Abboud, a 37-year-old who was standing by the rubble of an apartment building in the center of the city, waiting to see if his sister's remains would be found. "I thought that before this happened, and now I feel it even stronger."
Shay Har-Tzvi, a former Israeli military and government strategist, said Israel's troops would likely remain in a new buffer zone in southern Lebanon in the coming weeks and months to prevent Hezbollah from firing into northern Israel.
"It's going to take some time. No doubt about it. But this is the only way that can maybe reduce the power of Hezbollah and bring some quiet, not only to Israel, but also to Lebanon," Har-Tzvi said.
Jawad Rizkallah in Beirut contributed to this report.
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