ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government is ready to hold direct talks with Lebanon, a day after Israeli attacks on its northern neighbour killed hundreds of people and threatened a fragile United States-Iran truce.
“In light of Lebanon’s repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to start direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office on Thursday.
“The negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon.”
The statement comes a day after Israeli attacks across Lebanon killed more than 300 people in a series of devastating strikes that have threatened to undermine a US-Iran ceasefire.
Israel and the US have said Lebanon was not included in the two-week truce that aims to allow for negotiations on ending the five-week US-Israel war on Iran. Meanwhile, Iran and mediator Pakistan have said Lebanon was included in the ceasefire, and several international leaders have called for Lebanon to be included.
Shortly before Netanyahu’s surprise announcement about potential talks, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he was working on a diplomatic track on this matter that was starting to be seen “positively” by international actors.
And Lebanon’s cabinet instructed security forces to restrict weapons in Beirut exclusively to state institutions, in a warning to the armed group Hezbollah.
“The army and security forces are requested to immediately begin reinforcing the full imposition of state authority over Beirut governorate and to monopolise weapons in the hands of legitimate authorities alone,” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said at the end of a cabinet meeting.
Aoun later said on X that the “only solution” to the ongoing situation in the country was to achieve a ceasefire.
“I have said and repeat: I will not allow internal strife to occur, and everyone must have faith in the state and its legitimate forces, for there is no salvation without it,” he said.
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad stated that the group rejects direct negotiations with Israel and said that the Lebanese government should demand a ceasefire as a precondition before further steps.
Fayyad added that the government’s position should also prioritise the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanese territory and the return of displaced people.
An official source told Al Jazeera that there will be no talks before a ceasefire is secured.
Hours before opening the way for talks with Lebanon, Netanyahu said Israel would continue striking Hezbollah “with force, precision and determination”.