Lebanon meets Israel in Washington to request truce extension
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WASHINGTON: Israel and Lebanon hold a new round of talks in Washington on Thursday (Apr 23), during which Beirut plans to request a one-month extension of a ceasefire due to expire within days.
Israel stated ahead of the talks that it has no "serious disagreements" with Lebanon, calling on it to "work together" against the pro-Iran Hezbollah, which is notably absent from and opposed to the negotiations.
The two countries, officially at war for decades, held a meeting in Washington on Apr 14, the first of its kind since 1993, in an attempt to put an end to the more than six-week war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The United States announced a 10-day truce shortly after the first meeting, and it is due to expire on Sunday.
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Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 2,454 people and displaced one million since the start of the war, according to Lebanese authorities.
As in the previous round, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will bring together Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad, in the presence of the US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa.
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is now also expected to join the meeting, a State Department official told AFP.
STRIKES AHEAD OF TALKS
Israeli strikes killed five people in Lebanon on Wednesday, as Israel continues to hit what it says are Hezbollah targets despite the ceasefire.
Under the truce terms, Israel says it reserves the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".
Lebanon's civil defence agency said an Israeli strike killed journalist Amal Khalil on Wednesday.
Before rescuers had found her body, Lebanon's state media said Israeli strikes had killed four people in the south and east of the country.
Khalil's employer, Lebanese daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, said fellow journalist Zeinab Faraj was wounded.
In Washington, "Lebanon will request an extension of the truce for one month, an end of Israel's bombing and destruction in the areas where it is present, and a commitment to the ceasefire," a Lebanese official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the talks.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, for his part, said Wednesday that "contacts are underway to extend the ceasefire period".
Following the first round of talks, Lebanon and Israel had agreed to begin direct negotiations with a view to lasting peace, at a date and place to be determined later.
Lebanon has appointed Simon Karam, a seasoned diplomat and former ambassador to the US, to lead its delegation in these negotiations.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Wednesday that Israel does not have any "serious disagreements" with Lebanon.
"SERIOUS DISAGREEMENTS"
"The obstacle to peace and normalisation between the countries is one - Hezbollah," Saar said.
Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel on Mar 2 to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Israel has responded with massive air raids and an invasion of southern Lebanon.
Israeli forces remain in dozens of southern villages, behind what the army has called a "Yellow Line", described by the Israelis as a 10km deep "security zone" along the border in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah, for its part, said it had carried out an attack on northern Israel on Tuesday in response to Israel's "flagrant" violations of the ceasefire.
The truce had been demanded by Tehran as one of the conditions for resuming talks with Washington to end the regional Middle East war.
US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday an indefinite extension of the truce between the two countries that has been in effect since Apr 8.
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