US President Donald Trump said talks between the leaders of Israel and Lebanon “will happen” on Thursday, in a Truth Social post confirming the highest-level bilateral contact between the two countries in decades. Trump said he was “trying to get a little breathing room” between the two sides.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly met his security cabinet on Wednesday ahead of the scheduled discussions and was expected to weigh a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, where the Iran-backed group Hezbollah is based. Hezbollah had earlier said a ceasefire could happen “soon” — a rare public signal of openness from the group since the current round of fighting began.
A senior US official cited by Sky News said Washington has not formally demanded a ceasefire but “would welcome the end of hostilities in Lebanon.” The Daily Mirror reported that Trump described the encounter as the first direct Israel-Lebanon leader-level talks in 34 years, raising expectations after a week of preparatory exchanges in Washington involving Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Thursday’s talks mark an escalation from the ministerial-level discussions carried out earlier in the week and would represent the first direct leader-to-leader contact between Beirut and Jerusalem in more than three decades. Lebanese officials have previously signalled they would only agree to talks on condition that Israel halt strikes on southern Lebanon.
The diplomatic push coincides with the fragile US-Iran ceasefire brokered by Pakistan on April 8, which is set to expire on April 22 unless extended. A Lebanon-Israel understanding would remove one of the most volatile flashpoints left in the Middle East conflict cluster, with direct implications for the Hormuz situation and global oil prices that have battered Sri Lanka’s fuel supply.
