Beirut/Tel Aviv, April 16, (dpa/GNA) – Lebanon’s President, Joseph Aoun, is not yet ready for a direct telephone call with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, well-informed sources in Beirut said on Thursday, rejecting US claims that the two leaders would speak soon.
Aoun did discuss the possibility of such a call in a conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but has so far rejected it, dpa has learned from Lebanese government sources.
A call between Aoun and Netanyahu would be the first conversation of this kind in decades. Neighbouring states Israel and Lebanon consider each other enemies, have no formal diplomatic relations and are in a state of war.
US President Donald Trump had announced a conversation between “the leaders” of Israel and Lebanon for this Thursday after their ambassadors met in Washington on Tuesday for direct political talks for the first time in decades.
An Israeli minister was even more specific, announcing a conversation between Netanyahu and Aoun on Thursday morning.
Fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militia escalated again in the wake of the Iran war. The Lebanese government is not an active party to the war and is seeking de-escalation.
At the same time, it is making serious accusations against Israel over the continuing attacks in Lebanon in which, according to official figures from Thursday, 2,196 people have been killed and 7,185 wounded since March 2.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has so far rejected talks between the government and Israel.
GNA