Israeli-Lebanese Talks Set for Washington on Hezbollah Clashes

Israeli and Lebanese officials are set to meet in Washington next week to discuss halting ongoing military clashes between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, following intense U.S. diplomatic pressure to stabilize a fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.

The negotiations, announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, come amid weeks of escalated fighting that has strained the U.S.-Iran truce reached on Tuesday. That agreement, brokered through Pakistan, aimed to end direct U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil shipping route. However, Israel's intensified air and ground operations in southern Lebanon have complicated the deal, with Iranian officials insisting that a halt to those attacks is a prerequisite for further talks scheduled this weekend in Pakistan.

The conflict reignited on March 2, when Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel, three days after the start of U.S.-Israeli military actions against Iran. Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion, displacing hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians from areas it considers Hezbollah strongholds. According to Lebanese health...