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Officials say negotiations would also include the future of Israeli military outposts in Lebanon and of Lebanese prisoners still held in Israel.
March 11, 2025Updated 4:06 p.m. ET
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to start negotiations on disputes over the land border between them, officials said on Tuesday, offering a possible opportunity to resolve disagreements that have contributed to decades of tensions and conflict.
In a statement, Morgan Ortagus, President Trump’s deputy Middle East envoy, said that the United States was bringing Israel and Lebanon together to discuss the demarcation of the border. She said discussions would also focus on the future of five Israeli military outposts in Lebanon and of Lebanese prisoners still held in Israel after a cease-fire deal last year largely halted more than a year of cross-border warfare.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said there was an agreement to establish working groups to discuss the three topics. A Lebanese official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about sensitive diplomacy, confirmed that Israel and Lebanon agreed to engage in negotiations about demarcating the border.
It was not clear under what format officials planned to hold the talks or indeed, if they would actually go ahead. Israel and Lebanon don’t have direct formal diplomatic relations.
But if Israel and Lebanon succeed in achieving an agreement on the border, it would undermine an argument by Hezbollah, the militant group that is an influential force in Lebanon, for maintaining its arms, analysts said. Hezbollah has long contended that it was fighting what it described as Israel’s occupation of Lebanon.
“If a deal on the border is done, Hezbollah’s alibi will be gone,” said Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. “It will pull the rug out from under them.”
