Lebanon began peace talks with Israel on Thursday after the Israeli Defence Forces launched their heaviest strikes against Hezbollah terrorists this year.
Prime minister Nawaf Salam ordered his army to disarm the Iranian proxy group in the Lebanese capital Beirut and begin negotiations with Jerusalem.
The important development came after Israel killed 200 terrorists, rocked Beirut and blitzed more than 100 Hezbollah command centres across Lebanon.
The attacks, which killed at least 254 people, were the biggest since the Iran war erupted and angered the Lebanese government, Iran, and Pakistan, which brokered a ceasefire between Iran and the US.
Sir Keir Starmer described them as ‘wrong’ while Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper warned they could ‘destabilise the whole region.’
The US-Iran ceasefire agreed on Tuesday appeared to state that hostilities should stop between Israel and Hezbollah.
But Donald Trump denied this, and backed up Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying his conflict in Lebanon was a ‘separate skirmish’.
Despite howls of outrage, with Mr Salam slamming the ‘escalation of Israel aggressions,’ Beirut responded by agreeing to talk about terms.
Mr Netanyahu said: ‘Negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and… peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon.’
A senior official told the Daily Mail that direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon will begin next week in Washington.
Meanwhile, President Trump said he was ‘very optimistic’ that a deal with Iran could be reached. He added: ‘If they don’t make a deal it’s going to be very painful.’
He warned that the US military would remain in place to deliver ‘lethal prosecution and destruction’ of Iran if the ‘shootin’ starts’ again before a deal is signed.
The talks between Lebanon and Israel mark an historic opportunity two decades after the Lebanon war between the IDF and Hezbollah ended with a peace agreement.
A UN mission was meant to prevent Hezbollah from arming and massing on the Israeli border, but failed to do so.
This allowed the terror group to grow, and following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, it fired missiles at Israel in support of its fellow Iranian proxy.
After many of its leaders were assassinated by exploding pagers in a covert IDF operation in 2024, Hezbollah began fighting in support of Iran on March 1.
But now Beirut appears to want to seize an opportunity of wider peace talks to work with Israel to disband the terrorist army – a remarkable turnaround for Mr Netanyahu, whose attacks across Lebanon were said to breach the US-Iran peace talks.
Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the ceasefire in the early hours of Wednesday and stated it applied ‘everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY’.
Mr Trump said the terms were based on an Iranian ten-point proposal, with Tehran insisting that the first clause was a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Mr Netanyahu was cut out of the peace talks, and mediators told the Wall Street Journal he ‘wasn’t happy’ because Mr Trump only called him shortly before it was announced.
Israeli officials were particularly upset about the planned inclusion of Lebanon in the agreement. However, on Wednesday, Israel and the US said the fight with Hezbollah was separate and yesterday the IDF launched Operation Eternal Darkness.
Defence minister Israel Katz described it as ‘a powerful blow to Hezbollah,’ and it was ‘pleading for a ceasefire.’
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian accused Israel of a ‘blatant violation’ of the ceasefire agreement, and warned that Iran’s ‘fingers remain on the trigger.’
But while Mr Sharif ‘strongly condemned’ Israel’s attacks, it appeared that Islamabad had managed to keep Tehran at the negotiating table, with talks due to start tomorrow.
His spokesman told the Daily Mail: ‘Permanent peace will come, I think we will manage it.’
US Vice-President JD Vance is set to lead the US delegation in Islamabad at the start of two weeks of talks. It came as a statement attributed to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, demanded ‘blood money’ for Iranian casualties.
