Hezbollah, a group backed by Iran and based in Lebanon, launched around 30 rockets at Israel on Wednesday morning (15), the Israeli army reported, a day after Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors held their first direct talks in decades in Washington, DC.
Most of the rockets were intercepted and the rest landed in open areas, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
However, at least 35 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon in a 24-hour period, the country’s Ministry of Health reported in its daily update this Tuesday (14).
They continued despite the ceasefire between the United States, Israel and Iran, which came into force last week. Israel has refused to commit to a ceasefire in Lebanon.
On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and 14 other countries issued a joint statement on Lebanon, calling on “all parties to urgently reduce tension and seize the opportunity offered by the ceasefire between the United States and Iran.”
As shown by CNNIsrael and Lebanon “at a mutually agreed date and place”, according to a statement from the United States Department of State, following talks held in Washington on Tuesday.
During Tuesday’s discussions, the first between the two sides in decades, “the United States expressed its hope that the talks could go beyond the scope of the 2024 agreement and result in a comprehensive peace agreement,” the statement said.
The meeting is a diplomatic milestone, but it has conflicting agendas: Israel rules out discussions about a ceasefire and demands that the neighboring country disarm the group; Lebanon is now seeking a break in the conflict.
Iran claims Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah, complicating Pakistan-mediated negotiations.
Lebanon’s ambassador to the US stated that the , and that the “date and place” of the next direct negotiations with Israel “will be announced in due course.”
“I called for a ceasefire and the return of internally displaced people to their homes,” Nada Hamadeh Moawad said in a statement following the first direct talks between the countries in decades.
