🚨 The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, affiliated with Hezbollah, presents, according to its sources, the 4 demands presented by Israel in the fifth round of negotiations with Lebanon that opened yesterday in Washington:
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) June 24, 2026
1. The Lebanese army will take control of the Ali al-Tahr…
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🚨 The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, affiliated with Hezbollah, presents, according to its sources, the 4 demands presented by Israel in the fifth round of negotiations with Lebanon that opened yesterday in Washington:
1. The Lebanese army will take control of the Ali al-Tahr Ridge area, remove Hezbollah operatives from there, and destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure there, under American supervision. Once this is completed, the IDF will withdraw from the village of Tabit and the village of Zutar.
2. The body of IDF navigator Ron Arad, who has been MIA since 1986, in exchange for Hezbollah prisoners imprisoned in Israel.
3. Israel will remain in the "security zone" - all Lebanese access to this area will be prevented, both by civilians and Lebanese military personnel.
4. Communication between the IDF and the Lebanese army will be direct - "without intermediaries"
Lebanon: Porous ceasefire
[IsraelTimes] The second day of talks between Israel and Leb
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?..., which took place at the Pentagon and focused exclusively on security issues, ended on Wednesday evening without any public statement.
Thursday’s session will take place back at the State Department and focus only on political issues, with the US pushing the sides to make enough progress to be able to issue a public statement reporting as much, the source familiar with the matter said.
But even as the talks proceeded on Wednesday, Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire in southern Lebanon, with the IDF saying it carried out a strike on a vehicle that crossed into Israel’s self-described security zone in the Ali Taher ridge area.
Lebanese media reported two dead in the strike. Separately, the IDF said a soldier was moderately injured in an "operational accident" in southern Lebanon earlier Wednesday.
The soldier was taken to a hospital, his family was notified and the circumstances of the incident are under further investigation, the army said.
JERUSALEM AND BEIRUT FRUSTRATED WITH TRUMP, HAMPERING US PLAN TO PHASE IDF OUT OF LEBANON
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
confirmed on Wednesday that Israel and Lebanon were discussing a potential scale-back of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon as part of the negotiations mediated by President Donald Trump
...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania...
’s administration in Washington this week.
"One of the issues that’s been discussed in these negotiations is the creation of pilot zones — specific, defined areas where the Lebanese Armed Forces can go in, take control, and secure that territory, and then move on to the next pilot zone," Rubio told news hounds in Kuwait.
Rubio defended the current Israeli military buffer zone in southern Lebanon, saying the only reason that it exists is because Hezbollah was using the area to launch rockets and drones at Israel.
"The more of that area that the Lebanese armed forces is able to secure, the less of it is in Hezbollah’s control, the less Israel will be in Lebanon. But that’s the process we’re working on right now with these talks," Rubio said.
That effort did not appear to be going well though, with a government official and a second source familiar with the matter telling The Times of Israel later Wednesday that this week’s round of talks between Israel and Lebanon have been the least productive to date.
The two sources cited mutual frustration with the Trump administration’s decision to make a ceasefire in Lebanon part of the memorandum of understanding it inked last week with Iran.
Both Israel and Lebanon were opposed to the idea, arguing that it undermines the purpose of the channel between their two countries that Washington established in April, specifically to prevent Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for
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militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
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Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
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from maintaining its influence over Hezbollah and Lebanon, the two sources said.
The Israeli anger at Washington has led it to be less inclined to accept US requests that it begin pulling back some troops from southern Lebanon, the government official said.
Lebanon, meanwhile, feels that it must take a harder line in negotiations with Israel to counter the notion that Iran wields greater influence over affairs in Lebanese territory than it does, the source familiar with the matter explained.
Accordingly, the Lebanese government has presented maps for a proposed withdrawal that are much more expansive than what Israel is willing to accept at this stage — which was already very little due to the political pressures Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is facing, the source added.
The US was hoping that the three-day talks set to wrap up on Thursday would conclude with an announcement of a pilot program whereby the Israel Defense Forces would withdraw from small areas of southern Lebanon cleared of Hezbollah military infrastructure and be replaced by the Lebanese military.
However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt...
such a development currently appears less likely, the two sources told The Times of Israel.
A State Department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
RUBIO DEFENDS US LIFT OF IRAN SANCTIONS AS PART OF ’GIVE AND TAKE’ NEGOTIATIONS
The frustration with the US extended beyond Israel and Lebanon and appeared to be the reason that Rubio jetted to the region this week. He made in the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain as part of a tour aimed at assuring Gulf allies of Washington’s commitment to their security after the war Trump started left them significantly more exposed to Iranian threats.
While in Kuwait, Rubio defended the Trump administration’s decision to lift sanctions on Iran earlier this week, insisting Washington has to make some concessions as part of the negotiation process.
"Anytime you enter into a negotiation, it’s a process of give and take. This is a temporary measure. It’s for 60 days. As a result, we expect them to live up to the commitments they made in Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
. If they don’t... the president has a lot of options at his disposal," Rubio told news hounds.
The US first asserted that any sanctions relief that Iran would enjoy would only commence after Tehran made concessions in the 60 days of talks that kicked off over the weekend, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding last week to end the war between the two countries.
But then the US went on to acknowledge that some relief would be up-front, in the form of a waiver on the sanctions against Iranian oil exports.
Then on Monday, the US lifted major sanctions to allow Iran to trade oil in US dollars and delisted blacklisted shipping vessels under a 60-day temporary waiver.
Given the US insistence that sanctions relief would be based on performance, those more sweeping steps apparently came in response to Iran’s decision to allow UN nuclear inspectors back in the country. That was the only concession that the US has said Iran agreed to make in last weekend’s talks, although Tehran denies having done so.
Rubio also confirmed that the next round of technical talks between the US and Iran will begin early next week in Switzerland. He said those taking part in the talks will be beneath his post, so he will not be there, though more senior meetings have been led by US Vice President JD Vance, not Rubio.
Leiter: Israel wants US-Iran MOU to succeed, but funds cannot reach Hezbollah
[israelTimes] Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter says Israel wants the memorandum of understanding reached last week between the US and Iran to succeed.
“We all support President Trump’s vision of ensuring that Iran no longer has nuclear capabilities, ballistic missiles or the ability to funnel money to its proxies to threaten its neighbors and maintain its regional hegemony,” Leiter says in a statement.
Trump notably last week rejected calls to bar Iran from having any ballistic missiles, arguing that it should be allowed to have some if other countries in the region do, in comments that sparked further alarm in Jerusalem.
That concern peaked yesterday when the US announced a new deconfliction cell as part of its negotiations with Iran that will be tasked with preventing further escalations in Lebanon. The deconfliction cell is said to curb Israel’s ability to operate against Hezbollah, and would replace an already-existing mechanism in which Jerusalem has a more active role.
“I fear that the concept of ‘deconfliction’ is misplaced,” Leiter says, in reference to the new cell.
“Israel is not in conflict with Lebanon. Therefore, deconfliction is not the issue. All that is needed is coordination with Lebanon,” the ambassador says.”The only issue is Hezbollah. Hezbollah must be defeated and removed from the equation. Instead, there is a danger that Hezbollah has received a boost. It certainly feels stronger and bolder.”
Leiter goes on in his statement to pose questions, which he doesn’t say who they’re for, but appears to be directing them to the Americans.
He notes that the previous meeting resulted in a joint statement from the US, Israel and Lebanon regarding the need to disarm Hezbollah and asks whether that is still the basis of talks in DC.
“For us, it must remain so,” he says. “We agreed to a ceasefire that was conditional on Hezbollah withdrawing north. Is this agreement still binding?” Leiter asks.
“We cannot afford commitments that fade away. And it is important to be clear: Israel will act against immediate and evolving threats to its citizens and soldiers,” he adds.
“Iran is expected to benefit from a flow of funds under the MOU. How do we ensure that these funds do not find their way to Hezbollah?” Leiter continues.
“If we cannot guarantee that, then all the words we agree to here will make no difference, because Hezbollah will simply rebuild itself,” he warns.