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BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon and Israel are set to hold the first direct diplomatic talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington following more than a month of war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group that has rocked the tiny Mediterranean country.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will take part in the talks in Washington with Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad.
Hezbollah opposes the direct talks, and will not be represented. Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of the militant group’s political council, told The Associated Press that it will not abide by any agreements made in the talks.
At least 2,089 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, the Health Ministry said, among them 252 women, 166 children and 88 medical workers, while 6,762 others were wounded. More than 1 million people are displaced.
The Lebanese government hopes the talks will pave the way to an end to the war. While Iran has set ending the wars in Lebanon and the region as a condition for talks with the United States, Lebanon insists on representing itself.
Iran-backed Hezbollah and other critics are skeptical of such direct talks, maintaining that Lebanon’s government in Beirut lacks leverage and that it should instead back the position of Iran, Hezbollah’s key ally and patron.
Hezbollah enjoys wide influence in Beirut’s southern suburbs, as well as large swaths of the country’s southern and eastern provinces. Hezbollah-allied politicians hold two Cabinet minister positions, though the group’s ties have soured with Lebanon’s top political authorities, who have been critical of Hezbollah’s decision to enter the war last month and who have since criminalized the group’s military activities in the country.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
