Officials seek to temper expectations as Israel, Lebanon envoys set to hold historic meeting

Israel’s Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter will meet with his Lebanese counterpart Nada Hamadeh in Washington on Tuesday morning, marking the most senior in-person engagement ever between the two countries, though two officials familiar with the planning for the Washington meeting told The Times of Israel that expectations should be tempered. “We’re not about to release the peace doves,” said an Israeli official. While a goal of the talks is an eventual peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel, the more immediate concern is the disarmament of Hezbollah, on which the gaps between the sides are significant, a US official acknowledged.

Lebanon says it is committed to stripping Hezbollah of its weapons, especially after it dragged the country into the Iran war by firing at Israel two days after the February 28 Israeli strike that killed Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. But Jerusalem is not convinced of Beirut’s ability to deliver and is pushing for more aggressive IDF action, even floating the reestablishment of a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, a policy first employed several decades ago before being abandoned after Israel determined it was counter-productive.

Beirut is hoping Tuesday’s talks will lead to a halt of Israeli strikes in Lebanon, with its foreign minister arguing that such an outcome could be framed as a blow to Iran — which has pushed to extend the truce it inked with the US last week to protect Hezbollah — by further “reinforcing the separation between the Lebanese file and the Iranian track.” (Ed note: The Lebanese government has neither the ability or will to defeat Hezbollah. The Isareli IDF does and will.) (Read More)