Jerusalem, 11 April, 2026 (TPS-IL) — The Israeli ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, told his Lebanese counterpart in Washington, Nada Hamade Mouawad, that Israel refuses to discuss a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terrorist organization.
According to a statement issued after their initial contact, Leiter also said that Israel “has agreed to begin formal peace negotiations” with the Lebanese government, despite the two countries not maintaining diplomatic relations.
It has been announced that a meeting will take place on Tuesday at the State Department “to discuss the declaration of a ceasefire and the date for the start of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel under U.S. auspices.”
At the same time, however, Hezbollah’s position leaves little room for optimism, as, beyond organizing rallies against the talks, the organization is adopting an increasingly hard-line stance toward any dialogue with Israel.
The terrorist group’s secretary-general, Naim Qassem, called on Lebanon’s leadership to halt what he described as “unjustified concessions” and pledged that Hezbollah would continue what he called “the resistance”.
On Wednesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam ordered the army and security forces to reinforce full state control over Beirut and restrict weapons exclusively to legitimate forces, effectively calling for Hezbollah in the area to be brought under state control.
A day later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed that peace Talks With Lebanon begin, with an emphasis on disarming the Iran-backed organization and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon.