Lebanon-Israel Continue Negotiations in the United States

JAKARTA - Diplomats from Lebanon and Israel held a fourth round of US-mediated talks in Washington on Tuesday as the two sides sought to step up efforts to ease tensions along the border.

The fourth meeting between representatives of the two countries, which have no diplomatic relations, took place at the US State Department and was scheduled to last two days, Al Arabiya and AFP reported (3/6).

The Beirut delegation was led by Lebanese President's Special Envoy Simon Karam as well as Lebanon's Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad. Meanwhile, the Israeli delegation was led by Israel's envoy to Uncle Sam Yechiel Leiter

Meanwhile, the host delegation was led by the Chief of Staff of the Department of State Dan Holler, along with Michael Needham of the National Security Council.

The talks come as Hezbollah and Israel continue to exchange fire, despite US President Donald Trump announcing a deal to halt the offensive on Monday.

Israel on Tuesday said it would continue to target Hezbollah strongholds on the outskirts of Beirut if the Iran-backed group continued to attack towns in northern Israel.

The past few days have seen a dramatic escalation in fighting and bombing as Israeli forces carry out their deepest invasion of Lebanon in two decades.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said on Tuesday that a day earlier, an Israeli attack near a hospital in the southern city of Tyre killed four people and injured 127 others, including 39 staff from the facility.