Lebanon-Israel Talks: Is Hezbollah Engaging in Provocation?

The second session of the fourth round of direct Lebanon-Israel talks resumed Wednesday at the US State Department in Washington. The discussions remain arduous and are being impacted by violence on the ground in southern Lebanon. They were due to resume after a lunch break. Beirut is still trying to secure from Tel Aviv a commitment to a lasting truce, while on the ground the ceasefire framework imposed by President Donald Trump on Monday, after Israeli threats to strike Beirut’s southern suburbs, continues to be tested.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah showed little regard for threats issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, who warned that the army would strike Beirut’s southern suburbs if the Iranian-backed group continued attacks on northern Israeli localities. Donald Trump firmly opposed such strikes.

In the early afternoon, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing two rockets at an Israeli military base in northern Israel. Both were intercepted by the Israeli army, with sirens sounding in Kiryat Shmona and Menara.

Is Hezbollah trying to provoke Israeli authorities, knowing they will not overstep the limits set by the US president? Possibly. But it would be mistaken to believe it can exploit the rifts that emerged on Monday between Tel Aviv and Washington after the spat between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu over the Israeli military operation, still confined to southern Lebanon.

Comments made Wednesday by the US president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirm that Washington and Israel remain aligned on strategic objectives in Lebanon and Iran but differ on tactics. The two sides agree on the need to end Hezbollah’s military presence in Lebanon, viewing it as Iran’s armed proxy in the country.

For Washington, diplomacy remains the preferred path, whether in Lebanon or on the Iranian dossier. Donald Trump reiterated that position on Wednesday in an interview on the New York Post podcast, while also saying he was “frustrated” by what he described as Israel’s “endless war” in Lebanon.

At the same time, Netanyahu said he shared the US president’s goal of disarming Hezbollah in an interview with CNBC. “If we want to save Lebanon, if we want to achieve peace between Lebanon and Israel, as I want, we must disarm Hezbollah and demilitarize the country. This is an objective the president and I share, and it is what we must do,” he said.

The US secretary of state echoed that assessment, stressing the “danger” Hezbollah poses to the Lebanese state, particularly after threats by figures within the group to overthrow Nawaf Salam’s government.

What remains most significant is Washington’s determination to separate the ongoing Lebanese-Israeli negotiations from talks with Iran, a linkage that Tehran continues to reject.

The US presidency is therefore seeking to manage, simultaneously but separately, bilateral Lebanon-Israel negotiations and the Iran dossier. On the latter, Donald Trump said talks were moving quickly. Iran, however, swiftly denied this, rejecting any claim that it had sent Washington a response to US proposals for a resumption of negotiations. The denial, issued by the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, came shortly after Trump’s interview with the New York Post.

Tasnim did not, however, comment on the US president’s remarks suggesting the possibility of a meeting with Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.

As Tehran continues to stall, Trump reiterated once again that he will not wait indefinitely, and that he will eventually have to choose between reaching a deal with Iran or launching a military strike – an option he described as “not pleasant.”

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Islamic Republic was “playing with fire,” pointing not only to its delays in indirect talks with Washington but also to strikes carried out overnight Tuesday into Wednesday against Kuwait and Bahrain. According to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, those operations were carried out in response to US attacks targeting an Iranian tanker and an island in the Strait of Hormuz.

In Kuwait, the raids claimed by the Guards hit an airport terminal, killing one person and injuring 63 others, some of them critically wounded.

The US military responded with “defensive strikes” on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM). The Revolutionary Guards then retaliated in turn, targeting an air base hosting helicopters in Kuwait, as well as the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet naval command in Bahrain.