Lebanon seeks direct talks with Israel amid ongoing conflict escalation
Lebanese Energy Minister Joe Saddi confirmed Lebanon has requested direct talks with Israel via a US intermediary to end ongoing hostilities and humanitarian crises.
US officials have reiterated their opposition to Lebanon’s request for direct talks with Israel, citing strategic concerns amidst ongoing regional tensions.
Lebanon awaits a response from Israel regarding direct talks facilitated by the US, amidst ongoing violence and a deteriorating humanitarian situation along the border.
Briefing summary
Lebanese Energy Minister Joe Saddi confirmed that Lebanon requested direct talks with Israel through a US intermediary to address escalating violence, which has resulted in numerous deaths and displacement.
Despite bilateral discussions with EU leaders, Lebanese officials reported that both US and Israeli authorities rejected their proposal, further complicating the region’s tense dynamics and Israel’s position on Hezbollah.
Saddi acknowledged Lebanon’s slow progress in disarming Hezbollah but stressed that financial support for the Lebanese government is jeopardised by ongoing conflict and Hezbollah’s military actions.
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Cutting off Iranian lifeline for Hezbollah is critical, Lebanese minister tells EU News
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Lebanese Energy Minister Joe Saddi confirmed his country has asked for direct talks with Israel, through a US intermediary, to try to put an end to an Israeli offensive that has cost close to 500 lives and displaced some 700,000 people along the border.
Looking for European support, Lebanese authorities held bilateral talks on March with European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Council President António Costa.
US and Israeli sources have said their respective government had rebuffed the proposal though neither side has spoken officially. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declared goal remains the complete disarmament of the Iran-backed militia, Hezbollah.
The Israeli premier said this week Lebanon that it was not fulfilling its obligations to confiscate Hezbollah’s weapons in line with a November 2024 ceasefire agreement between the two countries.
Speaking to EU News, Saddi acknowledged that Lebanon was not proceeding as fast as expected but noted the general convulsion in the Middle East.
“Everybody would wish that the implementation of this would happen much quicker. But this has to do on one side with (…) the capabilities of the Lebanese army. It has to do also with the behaviour of Israel during that whole period.”
Lebanon has repeatedly accused Israel in the past of violating the ceasefire agreement in South Lebanon. Observers have pointed that had Hezbollah been disarmed as planned, the militia would not have fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for its offensive on Iran, consequently dragging Lebanon into the war.
The 2024 agreement provides for a timeline and five phases. Hezbollah had refused full disarmament even before the ceasefire broke down in March 2026.
Saddi underscored that his government had declared Hezbollah’s military actions illegal in the wake of its launching rockets at Israel in early March, adding that were the Shia militia willing to solely operate as a political party, his government would have “no problem with it.”
Netanyahu has shown increasing signs that he will not stop at demilitarizing Hezbollah but would want to see it completely disappear from Lebanon’s political scene as well. Besides its paramilitary activities, Hezbollah is a long-time political actor and operations it presents as charity work.
Asked whether the group’s social activities, which translate in strong support among Lebanon’s disfranchised Shia communities, could be wiped out entirely, Saddi said that the only way was for the state to step in and fill the gap.
“But for the state to be available, it needs financial means (…) And unfortunately, Hezbollah dragging us again back into the war, it makes the availability of international funding that much more difficult and distant in time,” he noted.
The only way for Hezbollah to lose its clout and power may lie in the success of the US-Israeli operation in Iran. “There is a financial lifeline for Hezbollah coming from Iran (…) any major reduction both on the military side and the financial side in terms of lifeline to Hezbollah certainly would weaken it,” the Lebanese minister said.