United States President Donald Trump has announced that leaders of Israel and Lebanon will speak to each other for the first time in 34 years on Thursday, raising cautious hopes for a diplomatic solution to the fighting that has continued for more than six weeks.The announcement comes as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon and its invasion of the country’s south intensify. More than 2,000 people have been killed and more than one million displaced across Lebanon so far.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listIsrael’s minister for innovation, science and technology, Gila Gamliel, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.Lebanon has yet to comment but, on Thursday, Iran’s speaker of parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told his Lebanese counterpart, Nabih Berri, in a phone conversation that a ceasefire in Lebanon is vital, according to a statement posted on Telegram.“For us, a ceasefire in Lebanon is just as important as a ceasefire in Iran,” he said.Ghalibaf led the Iranian delegation at the first round of US-Iran talks in Pakistan last week, which ended without a deal.The prospective talks between Israel and Lebanon follow a rare direct engagement between the two countries’ US ambassadors in Washington on Tuesday – also their first such direct contact in decades.Although that meeting concluded with no resolution, Trump’s comments suggest the White House is pushing for de-escalation in the region, as a two-week Pakistan-brokered ceasefire between the US, Israel, and Hezbollah-ally Iran is currently in place. The two sides disagree over whether the ceasefire extends to figh …
