Lebanon and Israel will hold a second round of talks in Washington on Thursday, as Beirut pushes to extend a fragile truce and halt Israel's continued occupation, attacks, home demolitions and scorched-earth campaign across southern Lebanon.
The meeting between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to Washington will be the latest preparatory round ahead of broader negotiations that seek to put a permanent end to the conflict.
Beirut is seeking a one-month extension of the truce to create space for direct talks and finalise its negotiating team, Lebanese sources told The New Arab. Officials also pointed to "positive signals" that the ceasefire could be extended under US pressure, a move Lebanon is relying on amid fears of renewed violence.
Citing sources, Lebanese broadcaster LBCI said the truce extension could be between 10 and 40 days. The sources said the talks on Thursday will focus on extending the ceasefire and setting a time and place to begin negotiations.
Lebanon has said it will enter the talks with core demands, including a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory, an end to hostilities, the release of Lebanese detainees, reconstruction support and rejection of any new realities imposed on the ground.
Despite the current truce, Israel has continued daily violations of the ceasefire while seeking to expand control over 55 towns and villages in the southern border area as part of a so-called security zone , preventing many residents from returning.
Israeli forces have continued demolishing homes, razing farmland and destroying civilian infrastructure inside the occupied area. Entire border villages have been flattened, including the key town of Bint Jbeil, where heavy fighting took place recently .
Israel has dubbed the security zone in southern Lebanon the "Yellow Line," mirroring the name of a demarcation zone it established in Gaza after the ceasefire there. Hezbollah has vowed to break the line and rejects Israeli attempts to impose new border realities. The group has rejected calls to disarm before a full Israeli military withdrawal.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Hezbollah's Shia ally, warned that occupying Israeli forces would face resistance if they fail to withdraw. He told local newspaper Al-Joumhouria that Lebanon could not tolerate losing a metre of land.
The talks come as Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem, saying he would "pay with the loss of his head", and threatened to disarm the group through "military and diplomatic pressure".
Fighting resumed between Hezbollah and Israel on 2 March, drawing Lebanon deeper into the wider regional conflict that followed US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February.
Israeli attacks have since killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon and forced around a million people from their homes.
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun has defended the talks despite criticism from Hezbollah, saying negotiations are aimed at ending hostilities, securing an Israeli withdrawal and enabling the Lebanese army to deploy fully to the internationally recognised southern border.
Separately, Lebanon's Public Works and Transport Minister Fayez Rasamny said it remained difficult to calculate the full cost of damage before a permanent ceasefire is reached, but estimated that rebuilding 15 bridges destroyed or damaged by Israel in the south would cost between $7 billion and $8 billion.
Israel bombed most bridges crossing the Litani River during the war, severing the south of the Litani region from the rest of the country and displacing much of the population. Since the truce, the Lebanese army has worked to reopen some crossings.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is in Luxembourg on Tuesday to meet with EU foreign ministers before travelling to Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron, where the two are to discuss bolstering Lebanon's position in the talks with Israel.
Ahead of the EU meeting, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said Israel's actions in Lebanon were "totally unacceptable".
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares also said Lebanon is witnessing "an invasion that violates international law", with residents of the south being driven from their land.