A senior official in the Lebanese president’s office has confirmed that Lebanon will participate in direct negotiations with Israel next week, provided a ceasefire is in place beforehand, according to a BBC report carried by Ada Derana.
The day and time of the proposed meeting have not been set. Direct talks between Lebanon and Israel, while not unprecedented, remain unusual — the two countries have generally communicated through intermediaries, particularly the United States.
Efforts to establish a negotiating framework have been ongoing since a ceasefire agreement in November 2024, with US envoys previously mediating indirect talks between the two sides. Lebanon’s conditional acceptance represents a significant diplomatic shift, coming after weeks of devastating Israeli strikes that have killed over 300 people across the country.
The development follows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s order to his cabinet to open direct negotiations with Lebanon, even as Israeli military operations continued. Netanyahu had simultaneously insisted there was “no ceasefire” applicable to Lebanon under the broader US-Iran truce brokered on April 8.
For Sri Lanka, progress on the Lebanon-Israel track could help ease the regional instability driving fuel price volatility. The fragile US-Iran ceasefire, which briefly reopened the Strait of Hormuz before Iran re-imposed controls, remains the primary factor in Colombo’s energy supply calculations.
Sri Lanka’s new envoy to Lebanon recently assumed duties, and a Sri Lankan woman was injured in earlier Israeli strikes on the country.
Sources: Ada Derana
