By Maya Gebeily and Emily Rose
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, April 16 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said Lebanese and Israeli leaders will speak for the first time in decades on Thursday, while Pakistan said peace in Lebanon was essential for talks it is mediating between Washington and Tehran on ending the Iran war.
The Lebanon conflict spiralled out of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, with the Iran-backed Hezbollah opening fire in support of Tehran on March 2, prompting an Israeli offensive in Lebanon just 15 months after the last major conflict.
The Israeli security cabinet convened late on Wednesday to discuss a possible ceasefire in Lebanon.
“Peace in Lebanon is essential for (Iran) peace talks,” Tahir Andrabi, spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, said.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was “trying to get a little breathing room” between Israel and Lebanon.
“It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow. Nice!” Trump wrote in the post published before midnight on Wednesday, Washington time. The post did not give any further details.
Gila Gamliel, a member of Israel’s security cabinet, told Israel’s Army Radio that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would “speak for the first time with the president of Lebanon after so many years of no contact between the two countries”.
A senior Lebanese official told Reuters Lebanon had no information about a call between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Netanyahu.
BEIRUT AT ODDS WITH HEZBOLLAH
The Lebanese government has been sharply at odds with Hezbollah over its decision to enter the war, having spent the last year seeking to secure the peaceful disarmament of the group founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982.
Beirut banned Hezbollah’s military activities on March 2.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office and Aoun’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The office of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also told Reuters it had no information about contact between Lebanese and Israeli leaders.
Washington on Wednesday expressed optimism about reaching a deal to end the war with Iran. The sides agreed a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war on April 8, following mediation by Pakistan.
Israel and the U.S. have said the campaign against Hezbollah was not part of that ceasefire, though Pakistan’s prime minister had said the truce would include Lebanon, as demanded by Iran.
FIGHTING IN KEY LEBANESE TOWN
A senior Israeli official and a senior Lebanese official said on Wednesday Netanyahu’s government was under heavy pressure from Washington to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon.
A senior U.S. administration official said on Wednesday the Trump administration had not asked for a ceasefire, but the U.S. president “would welcome the end of hostilities in Lebanon as part of a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon”.
Netanyahu, in a video statement released late on Wednesday, said the Israeli military continued to strike at Hezbollah and was about to “overcome” the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, located at the border.
The senior Lebanese official said that Lebanon’s assessment was that Israel wanted to secure a victory in Bint Jbeil before diplomatic progress could be made.
The Israeli military said its troops were continuing “targeted ground operations in southern Lebanon”.
In Israel, sirens rang out warning of incoming rocket fire, sending residents of several Israeli northern towns running to bomb shelters. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Hezbollah kept up its attacks, firing rockets at two towns in Israel, the group’s al-Manar television reported.
Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors held rare talks in Washington on Tuesday.
Iran has said Lebanon must be included in any agreement to end the wider war in the Middle East, while Washington has pushed back, saying there is no link between the two sets of talks.
Hezbollah on Wednesday condemned Tuesday’s meeting in Washington, saying it would deepen the rift among Lebanese.
(Reporting by Emily Rose in Jerusalem and Maya Gebeily in Beirut, Jana Choukeir in Dubai, Saad Sayeed in Islamabad; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Ros Russell)
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