Israel And Lebanon To Negotiate Over Land Border

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israel and Lebanon agreed on Tuesday to open negotiations to define the border between the two countries, according to a report by the Prime Minister’s Office.

After a four-nation meeting with the US and France at the United Nations peacekeeping force headquarters in Naqoura, Lebanon, the two sides also announced that three joint working groups would be established and would begin working next month, according to a Times of Israel report.

The teams will focus on the five points Israel still occupies inside of Lebanon, the Blue Line that marks the de facto border between Israel and Lebanon, the points that are under dispute, and Lebanese citizens held by Israel.

Israel also agreed to release five Lebanese detainees as a “gesture to the new Lebanese president,” Joseph Aoun, the PMO said, adding that the release is coordinated with the US.

Lebanon said it had received the four Lebanese “hostages” from Israel, with a fifth to be handed over on Wednesday, according to a statement by the Lebanese president’s office on X. Citing two US officials, Axios reported that one of the Lebanese nationals released by Israel is a member of Hezbollah.

According to reports in Lebanon, a total of 11 Lebanese nationals are currently being held by Israel.

During the tenure of Yair Lapid as prime minister, Israel and Lebanon negotiated a maritime boundary — in an agreement brokered by the US — but the two countries have yet to adopt an official land border.

The truce in Lebanon, which took effect last November, has terminated more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war during which Israel sent in ground troops to eradicate Hezbollah positions and weaponry in Southern Lebanon.

The fighting began with attacks by Hezbollah on October 8, 2023 in support of ally Hamas, which had invaded Israel from Gaza a day earlier. Persistent rocket fire from Lebanon displaced some 60,000 Israeli civilians.

“Everyone involved remains committed to maintaining the ceasefire agreement and to fully implement all its terms,” US Deputy Presidential Special Envoy Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. “We look forward to quickly convening these diplomat-led working groups to resolve outstanding issues, along with our international partners.”

Despite the diplomatic breakthrough, Israel continues to target any Hezbollah terrorists south of the Litani river, in accordance with its ceasefire demands. On Tuesday an Israeli drone strike in the southern part of the country killed a Hezbollah terrorist.

The IDF said that the strike on a car in the Nabatieh area in southern Lebanon on Tuesday targeted a Hezbollah commander in the terror group’s aerial defense unit, identified as Hassan Abbas Izzedine. Lebanese media outlets published images of the vehicle’s remains between the villages of Deir Zahrani and Humin al-Fawqa in Southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah supporters, waving yellow banners of the Iran-backed terror group as well as the national flag of Lebanon (C), stand over a makeshift US flag in front of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombardment during a protest in the southern Lebanese village of Tair Harfa on February 9, 2025 against a visit by the US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus to south Lebanon. (Mahmoud Zayyat / AFP)
The IDF said he was a “significant source of knowledge” in Hezbollah’s aerial defense unit and led attempts to rebuild the unit’s infrastructure that was decimated during the war. Izzedine also worked to procure new equipment for the unit, which posed a threat to Israeli military aircraft, the IDF added.

Another Israeli Air Force strike in southern Lebanon targeted a group of Hezbollah operatives who were identified at a facility belonging to the Iran-backed group, according to the IDF.

The IDF also carried out airstrikes on Friday night in southern Lebanon, saying it targeted a Hezbollah operative and sites used to store weapons and rocket launchers, adding that the strikes were carried out due to the threat they posed to Israel.