Lebanon to join US-backed talks with Israel in Florida on Tuesday, president says
Joseph Aoun said a Lebanese military delegation would press for an end to Israeli attacks at the meeting in Tampa on Tuesday 20 October, US time.
Lebanon will send a military delegation to a US-backed meeting with Israel in Tampa, Florida, on 20 October, President Joseph Aoun’s office said on Saturday 17 October.
In a post on X, the presidency said the delegation would present Beirut’s demands for an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon and seek “outcomes consistent with the framework agreement”, Anadolu Agency and Reuters reported.
Aoun made the announcement while hosting French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. He said Lebanon wants the mandate of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in the south, extended, and welcomes any arrangement that keeps an international presence there, according to Anadolu. Barrot expressed France’s solidarity and offered help with urgent humanitarian needs.
Background
A new war between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah began on 2 March, triggered by the wider regional conflict, Reuters reported. Under a US-brokered framework agreed in June, Beirut pledged to disarm Hezbollah, which would lead to a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon. Hezbollah has refused to disarm while Israeli forces remain on Lebanese land, and Israel has continued to strike southern Lebanon. Lebanon and Israel have held several rounds of direct talks in recent months.
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