Israel and Lebanon have met for their first high-level talks in more than 30 years in what the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. called a ¡°victory for sanity,¡± even as officials played down hopes for an end to the war with Hezbollah.
The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington met under U.S. mediation for ¡°productive discussions on steps toward launching direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon,¡± State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement Tuesday. No date or time was set for another round.
The U.S. hailed the fact that the governments were meeting face to face for the first time since 1993. But any hopes of Israel easing its military campaign against its neighbor were low given that Hezbollah ¡ª a political party that¡¯s also one of the world¡¯s most powerful militant groups ¡ª wasn¡¯t involved.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.