Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has said that planned talks with Israel aim to end “hostilities” and the Israeli occupation in the south, as he named ex-ambassador Simon Karam to lead a delegation, AFP reports.

“The choice to negotiate aims to stop hostilities, end the Israeli occupation of southern regions and deploy the (Lebanese) army all the way to the internationally recognised southern borders” with Israel, Aoun said in a statement.

Aoun named former Lebanese ambassador to Washington, Simon Karam, to head the negotiations, and said the talks will be “separate from any other negotiations”, in reference to US-Iran diplomacy to end the wider Middle East war.

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