Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has said that planned talks with Israel aim to end hostilities and the occupation in southern Lebanon, even as Hezbollah and its supporters reject the negotiations, AFP reports.

New talks between Lebanon’s and Israel’s US ambassadors will take place on Thursday in Washington, a US State Department official told AFP, after the first direct talks between the two countries in decades was held on April 14.

Aoun said the aim of negotiations was to “stop hostilities, end the Israeli occupation of southern regions and deploy the (Lebanese) army all the way to the internationally recognised southern borders”.

Opinion

Trouble at home

Trouble at home

The country’s strength lies in its political and economic stability, not in fleeting moments of diplomatic success.

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