US to host Israel, Lebanon peace talks

The French AFP news agency quoted an unnamed US State Department official as saying that Israel and Lebanon will hold talks in Washington next week.

“We can confirm that the Department will host a meeting next week to discuss the ongoing ceasefire talks with Israel and Lebanon,” the US official said.

Earlier on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he had instructed his Cabinet to hold direct talks with Lebanon, emphasizing the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group.

AFP quoted an unnamed Lebanese government official as saying that Beirut needed a ceasefire before any negotiations with Israel.

Kuwait on Thursday evening accused Tehran of being targeted by drone strikes despite a ceasefire between Iran, the US and Israel.

A statement from Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry, carried by the state-owned KUNA news agency, said the attacks “targeted some important Kuwaiti facilities.” It reportedly caused significant material damage but no one was injured.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has denied any attack on Gulf countries during the ceasefire. In a statement on state media, the Guard said that if it carried out an attack, it would announce it publicly in an official statement.

Kuwait was among the Gulf countries regularly targeted by Iran throughout the war in retaliation for American and Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic.

Israel continued its attacks on Lebanon and announced strikes early Friday on targets it said belonged to the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

The Israeli military said it hit about 10 launch sites that were used to fire shells at northern Israel.

Meanwhile, air raid sirens were activated in Israel amid media reports of rocket fire from Lebanon overnight. Hezbollah said it had fired rockets toward Israel in response to what it described as ceasefire violations.

As soon as the ceasefire took effect on Wednesday, Israel stepped up its attacks on Lebanon, killing more than 300 people in a single day. Israel and the US deny that Lebanon is involved in the ceasefire, which is strongly denied by Iran and mediator Pakistan.

Many US allies condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanon, concerned that they could derail an already fragile ceasefire.

Despite numerous violations and a growing rift over whether Lebanon was included in the truth, a shaky two-week ceasefire between Iran, the US and Israel has held for the most part.

Here are the main headlines on the ceasefire from Thursday:

• Israel bombs Beirut and southern Lebanon, killing more than 300

• This bombing took place despite the ceasefire agreed between America and Iran on Wednesday.

• Iran says talks with US ‘meaningless’ if Israel continues attacks on Lebanon

• The United Nations and several US allies warn that Israeli attacks on Lebanon threaten the ceasefire with Iran

• Pakistan, France, Russia, Britain and other countries have called for Lebanon to be included in the ceasefire agreement

• Germany has said it will restart talks with Iran, while Spain is set to reopen its Tehran embassy

• Israel’s Netanyahu said he has asked his Cabinet to start talks with Lebanon ‘as soon as possible’.

• Trump warns Iran not to impose toll on Strait of Hormuz

You can follow our live blog for all the big headlines on the war and ceasefire from Thursday.

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