Israel and Lebanon were set to hold a fresh round of talks on Tuesday, as Hezbollah continued to target Israeli troops in Lebanon and fresh IDF strikes were reported, despite indications from US President Donald Trump that Washington had brokered a truce between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group.

Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon were set to take place Tuesday and Wednesday at the US State Department in Washington — the fifth round of talks between the sides since April.

During the third round last month, the sides agreed to separate the talks into political and security tracks, with the latter meeting for the first time last week. This week’s talks will be only for the political track.

A Lebanese diplomatic official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with regulations said that Beirut was still committed to holding talks to end the conflict despite the tensions.

Lebanon, whose government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, has demanded a halt to Israel’s strikes and full Israeli withdrawal, while Israel, which accuses Beirut of failing to disarm Hezbollah, demands that the terror group give up its weapons. Hezbollah has rejected the direct talks.

Despite the planned talks and the declared truce, Hezbollah appeared to continue its attacks on Tuesday morning, when sirens were triggered in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona and nearby border communities by a suspected drone over an area of southern Lebanon where troops were operating. A short time later the military said the incident had ended without injuries.

Overnight, the IDF said it had intercepted two Hezbollah rockets fired toward Safed, while an apparent Hezbollah drone struck a military position in the Western Galilee, close to the border with Lebanon. There were no injuries in either of those incidents.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israel conducted fresh airstrikes on south Lebanon on Tuesday morning.

The Lebanese army said two of its soldiers were moderately wounded in an Israeli drone strike on a road between the towns of Habboush and Deir al-Zahrani, in the Nabatieh area.

The Israeli........

© The Times of Israel