Lebanon’s representative at US-brokered direct talks with Israel on Tuesday will seek a ceasefire as a precondition for broader negotiations, a Lebanese official told CNN.
Lebanese ambassador to the US, Nada Hamadeh, will also lay out a proposed framework for future talks, the official added, which include a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory in exchange for the disarmament of Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The official said Beirut expects negotiations to be a “long, complicated process,” adding that the government’s primary aim is to “dissociate” Lebanon’s war from Iran’s ceasefire negotiations with the US.
Iran has demanded that Israel stop its attacks in Lebanon as a prerequisite to a sustained ceasefire agreement between Tehran and Washington.
Asked whether Beirut shared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated goal of reaching a peace agreement between the two countries, the official said: “It’s still early… maybe it will come. Maybe it will not.”
“Our main aim is peace for the Lebanese people. For Lebanon to live in peace.”
