Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a call that a comprehensive ceasefire must be secured for talks with Israel to progress, as Rubio stressed it stood with Lebanon.
The Lebanese presidency said on Friday, “Aoun thanked Rubio for US support but stressed the need for Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory to cease through the achievement of a comprehensive ceasefire, which Lebanon considers a fundamental basis for advancing the Lebanese-US-Israeli negotiations scheduled to take place in Washington next week".
During the call, Rubio stressed that the US “stands with Lebanon” and said Washington would work to achieve “security and stability” in the country, ensure “the extension of state authority over all its territory", and support Lebanon’s legitimate political, security and military institutions, “foremost among them the army".
According to the presidency, Aoun said the talks aim to achieve Lebanon’s “constant objectives” of restoring the country’s “security, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity".
The next round of Lebanese-Israeli talks will be held June 23–25 in Washington, the US State Department said following the call between Rubio and Aoun.
Rubio also "reiterated the need to disarm" Hezbollah and reaffirmed US "support for the Government of Lebanon’s efforts to create a fully sovereign Lebanese state that is at peace with all its neighbours", State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
Earlier, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon after Tel Aviv’s deadly strikes on Lebanon jeopardised the chances of an interim agreement on ending the US-Iran war, turning into a lasting Middle East peace deal.
The ceasefire announcement came after at least 47 people were killed and several others injured in a series of Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon. Four Israeli soldiers were also killed in a Hezbollah attack in southern Lebanon.
US-Iran talks in Switzerland planned for Friday were cancelled as fighting flared in Lebanon.
Israel has killed 3,912 people, wounded 11,873 others and displaced more than one million residents in Lebanon since March 2
Israel continues to occupy areas in southern Lebanon, some for decades and others since the latest conflict.
Israeli forces have also invaded and advanced more than 10 kilometres into Lebanese territory.
