Israel, Lebanon begin US-backed talks on land border

Israel and Lebanon held preliminary talks on potentially completing an Israeli troop withdrawal from the Arab country and could eventually discuss properly delineating their long-disputed land border.

Delegates from the countries, which do not have formal relations, met along with U.S. and French mediators at a border liaison position on Monday, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

While there’s no guarantee the talks will progress, the fact they’ve started suggests a truce between Israel and Hezbollah — a Lebanon-based militant group backed by Iran — is likely to hold for the time being.

The sides “agreed to form three joint working groups, the objective of which is to stabilize the area,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. Israel was to free five Lebanese war detainees “as a gesture to the new president of Lebanon,” it added.

Morgan Ortagus, President Donald Trump’s deputy special envoy for the Middle East, told Lebanon’s AlJadeed TV she was optimistic the talks would be successful. Lebanon’s government has not commented on the negotiations.

Israel and Hezbollah started a ceasefire in late November. Under the deal, Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops were meant to leave southern Lebanon and the Lebanese national army would take over. The truce has largely held, though Lebanon and Israel have accused each other of breaking the terms.

Israel has withdrawn most troops but retained five outposts just inside Lebanon, which Hezbollah and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun have criticized.

The future of those positions and “discussions on the Blue Line and points still in dispute” will be addressed by the working groups, the Israeli statement said. The Blue Line refers to the land border between Israel and Lebanon. Its position has been a key source of tension between the countries for years.

Hezbollah, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and many other Western nations, started firing on Israel on Oct. 8, 2023 in solidarity with Hamas, also designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and many other Western nations. Hamas, a day before, triggered the war in Gaza by attacking Israel.

The conflict killed thousands of people in Lebanon and forced tens of thousands of Israelis to leave their homes in the north. Israel severely weakened Hezbollah — considered one of the world’s most powerful militias — by destroying most of its missile stockpiles and killing leaders including long-standing chief Hassan Nasrallah.