Second Lebanon-Israel meeting agrees to strengthen Lebanese army: What to know
The second round of civilian-led talks between Israel and Lebanon focused on the economic track while also addressing the removal of Hezbollah's weapons.
BEIRUT — Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives met in south Lebanon on Friday for the second round of talks in less than a month as international and regional actors intensify their efforts to avert a renewed war in Lebanon ahead of an end-of-year deadline for the complete disarmament of the Hezbollah group.
What happened: The meeting took place at the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping mission (UNIFIL) in Naqoura near the UN-demarcated Blue Line — the de facto border between Israel and Lebanon — under a mechanism established by the November 2024 ceasefire that ended the 13-month war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Lebanese side was represented by its former ambassador to the US, Simon Karam. Israel sent Joseph (Yossi) Draznin, its deputy national security adviser, and Uri Resnick, the National Security Council's senior director for foreign policy.
US deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus headed the meeting of the mechanism, a committee tasked with monitoring the ceasefire that is made up of representatives from the United States, France, Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL.
