Israel, Lebanon to hold talks despite continued attacks

BEIRUT

Israel and Lebanon will hold talks in Washington on April 14, while the Israeli military said on April 13 its troops had completely surrounded a key town in southern Lebanon.

"The forces of the 98th Division have completed the encirclement of the town of Bint Jbeil and have begun an assault on it," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Colonel Avichay Adraee said on X.

Over the past week, Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters in and around the town in "face-to-face" clashes and with air strikes, he said.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah said it has been engaged for days in clashes with Israeli forces in Bint Jbeil.

Just five kilometers (three miles) from the Israeli border, Bint Jbeil has long been both a symbolic and strategic flashpoint in confrontations between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.

It was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting during the 2006 war, when Hezbollah's resistance there became central to the group's narrative of defiance.

Israeli and Lebanese officials are set to hold talks on April 14 in Washington to end the war. Israel's ambassador to Washington confirmed that "formal peace negotiations" would begin with Lebanon, but added that Israel refuses to discuss a ceasefire with Hezbollah.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel after US-Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28. Israel responded with massive strikes and a ground invasion.

During a visit to troops in southern Lebanon on Apri 12, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had eliminated the threat of an invasion by Hezbollah militants.

But he added: "There is still more to do, and we are doing it."

Israeli officials have repeatedly said that Israel wants to establish a "security zone" in south Lebanon to help prevent Hezbollah attacks.