DID Press: Israel and Lebanon have held direct talks, convened under U.S. mediation following the assassination of a senior Hezbollah commander two weeks ago, For the first time in decades.
The meeting — held Wednesday (Dec. 3) in the border town of Naqoura — brought together diplomats from both countries and U.S. military officials under a ceasefire-monitoring framework. The main agenda items were reducing border tensions and exploring potential economic cooperation in southern Lebanon.
According to reports, Washington had intensively worked over the past nine months to organize such a dialogue; efforts that culminated amid rising security tensions in Lebanon and recent Israeli strikes.
The session occurred just two weeks after the killing of Hezbollah’s senior military commander, Haitham Ali Tabatabai, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut — regarded by observers as one of Israel’s most significant operations against Hezbollah in recent years.
In recent months, Israel repeatedly warned of Hezbollah’s ongoing rearmament, stressing that if it continued, “there will be no choice but to return to war.” Lebanon, in turn, condemned the strikes as violations of its sovereignty and harmful to the operational capability of its army in the south, demanding Israel withdraw from five bases located on Lebanese soil.
According to a U.S. official, the commander’s assassination temporarily created greater political space for Israel and reduced the likelihood of large-scale operations. Despite inflammatory remarks from some Israeli officials, Washington considers a return to war in the coming weeks unlikely.