US Secretary Marco Rubio has voiced hope that the latest round of talks in Washington between Israel and Lebanon will produce a security roadmap, despite Israel and Hezbollah’s continuing hostilities, AFP reports.

Israeli and Lebanese envoys meeting for the fourth round of direct talks in the US capital “hopefully today will … produce a joint statement and an action plan on the track for security in that country, independent from Hezbollah,” Rubio tells a congressional panel.

The negotiations come days after US President Donald Trump said the two countries had pledged to de-escalate.

But Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade fire, with Hezbollah claiming missile attacks on northern Israel and Lebanon saying Israeli strikes in the south killed at least nine people, including two paramedics.