Israel & Lebanon talks resume in Washington : Ceasefire tensions, Hezbollah pressure & civilian toll

[0:00] confirmed that Israel and Lebanon will be holding a second round of talks in Washington, D.C. on [0:05] Thursday. Lebanon's president has named a former ambassador to the U.S., Simon Karam, to lead the [0:11] country's delegation. In a statement, Joseph Aoun said no one will share this task with Lebanon or [0:16] take its place. He also noted the choice to negotiate aims to stop hostilities and the [0:23] Israeli occupation of southern regions and deploy the Lebanese army all the way to the internationally [0:28] recognized southern borders. Heidi Pett is in Tyre in southern Lebanon with more on the country's [0:35] position on talks with Israel. Joseph Aoun, in announcing Simon Karam, this former U.S. [0:41] ambassador as Lebanon's representative in these talks with Israel, was very careful to point out [0:47] that he was the only representative for Lebanon and that there would be no substitute. And that is in [0:53] reference to this attempt by Iran to tie Lebanon to the broader regional conflict. You know, at one [1:00] point they were saying that there would be no agreement, no ceasefire between the U.S., Israel and [1:04] Iran if there was not also a ceasefire here in Lebanon. Now, there are some people here in Lebanon, [1:10] Hezbollah notably and their supporters, but others too, who thought that that might have actually been [1:15] a good idea because they fear that the Lebanese government has very little leverage in negotiations [1:20] with Israel. It's not technically a party to the conflict. The Lebanese army is quite weak, [1:26] but there are many others, the president, the prime minister, Nawaf Salam included among them, [1:31] who see this attempt to, by Iran, to tie the future of Lebanon, any peace, any ceasefire, [1:38] however long it may last, as an assault on Lebanon's sovereignty. They resented the idea that Iran [1:44] should be able to dictate what goes on here inside Lebanon. And so this is an attempt to, in their eyes, [1:49] to reassert Lebanese sovereignty. But it's also a little bit of insurance that if things go wrong [1:54] between the U.S., Israel and Iran, if that breaks down, that war does not immediately start again [2:01] here as well. And so that's why he's appointed this former ambassador, Simon Karam. He was the [2:07] Lebanese ambassador to the U.S. back in the 1990s, been practicing as a lawyer and in politics since [2:13] then. He's sending him over with a very, very strict and very narrow mission as the one [2:18] representative. Now, we've heard from, you know, members of Hezbollah today in an interview with [2:23] AFP Hassan Fadlala, who's an MP from Bint Jabail here in southern Lebanon, warning that it was not in [2:30] the interests of not just Lebanon and Lebanese state, but not in the interests of the president [2:35] to engage in these direct negotiations with Israel. [2:37] Noor Oday is near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank with more on Israel's approach to the talks [2:44] with Lebanon. This is not a process that the Israeli government really wanted or was excited [2:51] about. In fact, the narrative here in the commentary, in the political commentary, certainly [2:56] from the opposition, is that the Israeli prime minister was forced into this, much like he was [3:03] forced to declare or to submit to a ceasefire with Lebanon that was announced by the U.S. president. [3:10] Of course, Israel's demands are maximalist. Israel continues to occupy a big chunk of Lebanese land [3:17] in the south. It is still methodically and systematically demolishing Lebanese villages. It has [3:24] even declared a so-called yellow line that extends into Lebanon's territorial waters and even includes [3:31] the oil and gas field, Qana field belonging to Lebanon. It wants to use all of that as leverage [3:38] to impose or force the Lebanese government to forcefully disarm Hezbollah because even the Israeli [3:47] military estimates that no matter how long a military operation they can conduct, that will not result in [3:53] the disarming of the group. Of course, Israel is quite aware that that demand might spiral Lebanon [4:00] into a civil war and the commentary is quite candid in Israel about that and it doesn't see a problem with that [4:07] because according to the former commander of the home front, a civil war in Lebanon would cost the current [4:15] Lebanese government less than an Israeli military assault. Israeli attacks have killed nearly 2300 people in [4:23] Lebanon since the conflict with Hezbollah began in early March. The Iran-Allied group says the Israeli army has [4:29] continued destroying homes in villages it now occupies in southern Lebanon. Israeli airstrikes have also [4:36] targeted towns and villages in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon's east from where Malcolm Webb reports. [4:41] Ali Rida says he found the bodies of his landlord's children blasted into the street after an Israeli [4:49] airstrike. He told us they lived above his workshop where he spray-painted cars here on the outskirts of the [4:55] town of Sokhmoor in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. This is what's left of his livelihood. [5:02] The Israeli strike happened at 3.30 in the morning. There was absolutely no reason but Israel is known [5:08] for this. They target civilians and in some places children. Here a woman with her daughter and son [5:14] were killed. Imagine they were sitting at home thinking they were safe. Ali and the neighbors told us [5:19] the children's father is in hospital blinded by the blast and with both his legs broken by falling rubble. [5:26] They say they don't know if he'll survive. The town's mayor told us more than 140 houses have been [5:34] damaged or destroyed. Most of the people have returned but they're worried about the general [5:42] situation and all of them are waiting for negotiations and the internal situation in Lebanon [5:47] we're urging needs unity. Just down the road in the town of Mashkara this is what remains of a building [5:55] that included the homes of two families completely destroyed when it was hit in an airstrike. The [6:01] neighbors say they have no idea why certain homes were targeted. The families that live here had [6:07] evacuated as had most of the population of the town so no one was killed when this building was hit. [6:13] Not so. The person who happened to be driving past in that car, he was killed. Mahmoud Ibrahim, [6:20] he lives across the road, told us he's lucky to be alive. I had parked the pickup truck next to my [6:27] house. Within five minutes, as soon as I went inside, I felt something in the air and then there [6:32] was a very powerful explosion. Everything in my house was blown apart. The glass, the aluminum, [6:38] the windows. Israel's military says it targets Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure but it's hit [6:44] civilian sites across Lebanon. Some of the displaced people are waiting to find out if the ceasefire will [6:49] hold before they return home. Others have nothing to go back to. Malcolm Webb, Al Jazeera, Bakar Valley.