2026-04-09 17:53, updated 2026-04-09 19:45
publication
2026-04-09 17:53
update
2026-04-09 19:45
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had ordered peace talks with Lebanon to begin “as soon as possible,” which would primarily include the disarmament of Hezbollah. According to NBC News, US President Donald Trump insisted on starting negotiations.
“Due to Lebanon's repeated requests to start direct negotiations with Israel, I yesterday instructed the government to start direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible. The talks will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon,” Netanyahu's statement issued by his office read.
He added that Israel “appreciates the call by the Prime Minister of Lebanon for the demilitarization of Beirut.”
Netanyahu: We will attack Hezbollah wherever necessary
The Israeli army will continue attacks on Hezbollah “wherever necessary,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. Lebanese authorities said that more than 200 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Wednesday, including four Lebanese army soldiers.
According to NBC News, Netanyahu decided to enter into negotiations with Lebanon at the urging of President Trump, who on Wednesday, during their telephone conversation, asked the Israeli prime minister to limit attacks on Lebanon to ensure the success of U.S. negotiations with Iran.
Reuters quoted a senior Lebanese official as saying authorities in Beirut had spent the last 24 hours seeking a temporary ceasefire in order to hold broader talks with Israel.
According to a Lebanese official, talks with Israel will be “a separate path but the same model” as the Pakistan-brokered truce between the US and Iran.
He stressed that the date and place of the talks have not yet been set, but Lebanon needs the United States as a mediator and guarantor of any agreement.
In turn, Axios reporter Barak Ravid wrote on the X platform that the first talks between Israel and Lebanon are to start next week at the US Department of State. The US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, will mediate, Israel will be represented by its ambassador in Washington Jechiel Leiter, and the Lebanese side will be represented by its ambassador to the US, Nada Hamadeh-Moawad.
Trump: I told Netanyahu to be more restrained in Lebanon
US President Donald Trump told NBC that Israel would limit its actions in Lebanon and be more “restrained” after speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also expressed optimism about the chances of reaching an agreement with Iran.
– I talked to Bibi and he will stop it. “I just think we need to be a little more restrained,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC, reporting on his Wednesday conversation with the Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu announced on Thursday that he intended to enter into direct talks with Lebanon.
Increased Israeli strikes against the Iran-allied Lebanese Hezbollah have become a major obstacle to planned talks to end the war with Iran. Iranian officials accused the US and Israel of violating the ceasefire, while Trump claimed Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire. European countries also called for an end to strikes in Lebanon.
In an interview with NBC, Trump said he was very optimistic about the chances of success in talks with Iran in Pakistan. As he noted, Iranians' public statements differ significantly from what they say in private conversations.
– They say completely different things at meetings than in front of the press. They are much more reasonable, the president said. – They agree to everything they have to agree to. Remember, they were conquered. They don't have an army, he noted. He also threatened that if there is no agreement, “it will be very painful.”
From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)
change / ap /
