US-mediated Israeli-Lebanese talks unlikely to resolve key issues – scholar

Washington has no intention of forcing its ally to end its military campaign in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese professor tells RT

US-mediated direct Israeli-Lebanese talks are unlikely to bring peace unless Washington pressures Israel to end its airstrikes and ground offensive, Naim Joseph Salem, a professor of international affairs and diplomacy at the Lebanese Army Military Academy, has told RT.

Israel and Lebanon held rare negotiations in Washington on Tuesday, which the Lebanon-based armed group Hezbollah boycotted as “futile.”

While both sides described the talks as “constructive,” Salem argued that the format would likely lead to drawn-out negotiations “with no end in sight and no conclusive outcome,” as the US has no intention of pressuring Israel to end its military operation in Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) renewed airstrikes on Beirut and other cities in early March after Hezbollah began firing rockets and mortars at Israel in support of Iran. More than 1.2 million people have been displaced, as Israel issued sweeping evacuation orders in southern Lebanon in an effort to expand its “security zone.”

“The Israeli policy is to destroy the whole of southern Lebanon in order to force the population of these cities and towns, about 450,000 people, to leave and become refugees,” Salem said, adding that several towns have been “leveled” by Israeli forces.