Lebanon’s president named former ambassador Simon Karam to lead talks with Israel on Wednesday, the first time since 1991 that direct talks have happened on a civilian level. 

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced Karam's appointment to head the Lebanese delegation for Wednesday’s meeting in the southern city of Naqoura as part of a mechanism established after the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. 

Karam, 75, is a lawyer and former diplomat. He led the Lebanese delegation alongside military officers including Brig. Gen. Nicolas Tabet, commander of the South Litani sector. The Israeli National Security Council's senior director for foreign policy, Uri Resnick, represented his country. The inclusion of a civilian envoy follows consultations with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and was reportedly agreed to by Israel, according to presidential spokesperson Najat Charafeddine. 

Born in 1950, Karam comes from a Maronite family. His hometown of southern Lebanon's Jezzine, near the former Israeli-occupied security zone, was at one time controlled by the South Lebanese Army, a militia allied with Israel active during the 1980s and 1990s.