Lebanese and Israeli officials sat down at the State Department on Thursday for the start of a third round of direct talks since a US-brokered ceasefire was declared in April. The Washington meetings, scheduled to run into Friday, mark the highest-level bilateral contact between the two countries in decades.
The Lebanese delegation is led by Presidential Special Envoy Simon Karam; the Israeli side is headed by Yossi Draznin, deputy national security adviser, with senior military representatives at the table. Both governments confirmed the talks but neither released a joint agenda.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in Beirut that Lebanon's three priorities were shoring up the existing ceasefire, securing a timetable for Israeli withdrawal from positions inside southern Lebanon, and winning the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel. "We are looking for a ceasefire that Israel implements," a Lebanese official said.
The Israeli position, as briefed to local outlets, is that Israel must retain freedom of operations against Hezbollah until what officials call "the Hezbollah file" is fully resolved — meaning verifiable disarmament north of the Litani river and dismantling of remaining tunnel infrastructure. Israeli officials have publicly rejected any timeline-bound withdrawal as inconsistent with that position.
The April ceasefire, agreed alongside the broader US-Iran framework that paused the regional war, was a 30-day arrangement that is due to expire on Sunday. Hezbollah and the Israeli military have continued to trade limited fire across the border throughout the truce, and senior US officials have privately described the current state as "managed escalation."
A Trump administration official said the goal of this round was "an extension with substance" — a longer ceasefire window paired with a phased withdrawal and the start of negotiations on a maritime border deal that has been on hold since 2023.