The publication noted that Israel seeks to use the meeting to discuss the disarmament of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, along with the prospect of a peace treaty with Lebanon, while Beirut's main priority is to achieve a ceasefire on its territory. Jerusalem rejected the demand, prompting two officials involved in preparing the meeting to lower expectations about the likely outcome, the article said.
According to a media source among US officials, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yehiel Leiter and his Lebanese counterpart Nada Hamadeh were expected to shake hands before the start of negotiations, but this did not happen. The negotiations took place in a separate room at the US State Department. They were facilitated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US State Department Adviser Michael Needham, US Ambassador to Lebanon Michelle Issa and US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz. The Times of Israel called the meeting between Israeli and Lebanese representatives “the largest in-person meeting of senior officials ever held between the two countries.”
The Russian Air Force Service noted that these are the first direct negotiations between the countries since 1993. At the same time, according to media sources, there is no point in placing special hopes on them, because Israeli Ambassador Leiter said that they “do not intend to release doves of peace.”
Experts note that this meeting is more needed by Beirut, which is seeking cooperation with Jerusalem for the sake of a ceasefire. Following the violation of the ceasefire in the Middle East on April 8, Israel dealt Lebanon its “heaviest blow” since the start of the joint US-Israeli operation against Iran.
Before the meeting, Rubio called the talks between Israel and Lebanon a historic opportunity, noting that the United States is committed to helping the parties develop a framework for permanent peace. He emphasized that it is important to put an end to the influence of Hezbollah, which poses a threat to both Israel and Lebanon itself.
US President Donald Trump, in a comment to DW journalist Misha Komadovsky, said that he believes in the success of these negotiations. He stressed that the main obstacle remains Hezbollah, which needs to be gotten rid of, the journalist in H. informed.
‼️I'm a good judge of President Trump on traveling between Israel and Lebanon in Washington. POTUS tells @dwnews : “I mean success, and we owe them a lot in Washington.
— Misha Komadovsky (@komadovsky) April 14, 2026
Later that day, The Times of Israel wrote that “amid a historic meeting between Israeli and Lebanese envoys to the United States, Hezbollah appears to have stepped up its rocket attacks in northern Israel” and could increase the number of attacks before the end of the day.
Context
Israel and Lebanon have regularly exchanged attacks on each other's territory since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 and began war in the Gaza Strip. The situation escalated in September 2024 after dozens of people were killed in Lebanon as a result of the explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah militants. According to media reports, Israel was behind the attack, although it officially denied any involvement in the incidents.
On September 18, 2024, Israel announced about the “new phase of the war” and the transfer of troops to the border with Lebanon. Hezbollah, for its part, promised to respond to the attacks. In November, 46th US President Joe Biden announced that Lebanon and Israel agreed to the US proposal to end the armed conflict. However, in December, the IDF accused Hezbollah of violating the truce and attacked Lebanon.
On March 14, 2026, Axios, citing Israeli and American officials, reported that Israel was moving the “center of gravity” of military efforts to the border with Lebanon as a new stage of the war began.
