Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 11, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
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Israel and Lebanon have agreed to talks on border demarcation and detainee release, with the U.S. and France facilitating discussions.
CAIRO (Reuters) -Israel said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold talks to demarcate its border with Lebanon, adding it would release five Lebanese detainees held by the Israeli military in what it called a "gesture to the Lebanese president".
A statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel had agreed with Lebanon, the U.S. and France to establish working groups to discuss the demarcation line between the two countries.
Lebanese media including the state news agency NNA reported that the released Lebanese hostages had arrived in a hospital in southern Lebanon's Tyre.
In a statement on X the same day, U.S. Deputy Presidential Special Envoy Morgan Ortagus said: "Today, the United States announced we are bringing together Lebanon and Israel for talks aimed at diplomatically resolving several outstanding issues between the two countries."
She added that all those involved remained committed to maintaining the ceasefire.
Though Israel has largely withdrawn from southern Lebanon under a ceasefire deal agreed in November, its troops continue to hold five hilltop positions in the area with airstrikes in southern Lebanon citing what it described as Hezbollah activity.
The ceasefire deal ended more than a year of conflict between Israel's military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that was playing out in parallel with the Gaza war.
The fighting peaked in a major Israeli air and ground campaign that uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon and left the Iranian-backed Hezbollah badly weakened, with most of its military command killed in Israeli strikes.
(Reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din and Jaidaa Taha in Cairo; Emily Rose in Jerusalem;Editing by Peter Graff, William Maclean)
Israel agreed to hold talks to demarcate its border with Lebanon and will release five Lebanese detainees held by the Israeli military.
The released Lebanese hostages arrived at a hospital in southern Lebanon's Tyre, marking a step in the ongoing negotiations between Israel and Lebanon.
The talks are being facilitated by the United States and France, with U.S. Deputy Presidential Special Envoy Morgan Ortagus announcing the initiative.
All parties involved remain committed to maintaining the ceasefire, which ended more than a year of conflict between Israel's military and Hezbollah.
Despite largely withdrawing from southern Lebanon, Israel continues to hold five hilltop positions in the area and has conducted airstrikes.
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