US ambassador to Beirut says talks with Israel to continue

Hezbollah rejected the ceasefire terms and called for Israel to fully withdraw from Lebanon.

By JNS

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa discussed the ongoing high-level trilateral talks between Israel, Lebanon and the U.S., in a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut on Monday.

Issa, who was born in Lebanon, said the U.S.-brokered talks would resume in Washington, D.C.

He praised the professionalism of Lebanon’s negotiating team. According to the State Department, talks will reconvene during the week of June 22.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire on June 3. The ceasefire was to be contingent on Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, ceasing its missile and drone attacks on Israel and the terrorist group’s evacuation of all its operatives to north of the Litani River.

Hezbollah immediately rejected the ceasefire terms and called for Israel to fully withdraw from Lebanon.

On Sunday, after the Islamist group fired rockets toward Israeli civilians, the Israel Defense Forces struck a Hezbollah command center in Dahiyeh, a Shia suburb of Beirut.

The strike prompted a missile attack on Israel from Iran in defense of its proxy.

Israel retaliated early Monday with airstrikes on military targets in several Iranian cities and a petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran.

“What happened yesterday is a political message, and we in the United States have decided not to allow the confrontation to expand further,” Issa said, according to the X account of the Lebanese Presidency, which summarized his remarks at Monday’s meeting.

The Trump administration attaches “great importance” to Lebanon and the U.S. president “follows the Lebanese file daily,” Issa said, “especially since President Aoun has chosen negotiations.”

Talks may take time and no one expects to resolve all the issues in one meeting, but continued negotiations will have a positive impact on the overall direction in Lebanon and the region, Issa said.