A new round of talks between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors was held in Washington on Tuesday, a day after US President Donald Trump said he had received commitments of de-escalation from both Jerusalem and Hezbollah, and as both sides continued to trade blows, albeit at a reduced scale, despite this assertion.

Tuesday’s talks, the fourth round to be held by diplomatic representatives of the two countries, which do not have ties and have been in a state of war since 1948, were being held at the State Department and are scheduled to last for two days.

A senior Lebanese official told Reuters that the Washington talks would explore ways to reinforce the fragile ceasefire, possibly through phased approaches.

The official said that could mean establishing “pilot zones” — specific geographic areas where hostilities would stop, Israeli troops would withdraw and Lebanese soldiers would deploy, gradually building up to a ceasefire across Lebanon.

And as the latest US-brokered truce appeared to be at least partially holding, the IDF Home Front Command announced on Tuesday evening that it would ease restrictions in communities along the northern border.

Israel and the US want to see Hezbollah disarmed, an objective shared by the Lebanese government but rejected by the Iran-backed terror group.

Youssef al-Zein, the head of Hezbollah’s press office, said the group would not take a public stance on any ceasefire proposal without a formal declaration compelling Israel to fully halt hostilities across Lebanon.

“Hezbollah will monitor developments both on the battlefield and in diplomatic channels in the coming days,” Zein said.

Lebanese officials have said that Trump’s latest ceasefire deal involves Israel refraining from attacking Beirut’s southern suburbs in return for Hezbollah not attacking Israeli territory.

The ceasefire announced by Trump on Monday was intended to replace the previous US-brokered truce from April 16, which disintegrated in recent days amid increased Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and communities in northern Israel, and escalating threats of Israeli strikes on Beirut.

Although Hezbollah scaled down its attacks on Tuesday, it did not stop entirely, and a senior official from the Iran-backed group said it would not accept a “partial ceasefire” with Israel.

“We will not accept a partial ceasefire,” Mahmoud Qomati told AFP in a written statement, adding that “the Zionist enemy should know that any aggression against the suburbs could lead to a deeper and stronger response” from the group. The suburbs refers the Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israel’s Channel 12 said that Hezbollah was threatening to strike Tel Aviv and Haifa if Beirut was bombed.

On Tuesday night, the IDF said one reservist was moderately injured and three more soldiers were lightly hurt by a Hezbollah explosive drone in southern Lebanon earlier in the day.

The troops were taken to a hospital and their families notified, the army added.

Israel, for its part, backed down from the threat of striking Beirut’s........

© The Times of Israel