play Live Sign upShow navigation menuplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upDEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, News|Israel attacks LebanonTrump says Israel and Lebanon’s leaders will speak on ThursdayUS president says the leaders of the two countries will speak for the first time in 34 years on Thursday.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoWael Sabbagh, whose mother Afaf Sidaoui and brother Hassan, were killed in an Israeli attack on an apartment building on April 8, stands at the site of the strike in Tallet El Khayat in Beirut, Lebanon, April 15, 2026 [Jihed Abidellaoui/ Reuters]By Al Jazeera StaffPublished On 16 Apr 202616 Apr 2026United States President Donald Trump says the leaders of Israel and Lebanon will speak for the first time in 34 years on Thursday.
The announcement on Wednesday came a day after Israel and Lebanon’s envoys to the US held direct talks in Washington, DC, to discuss an end to Israeli attacks on its neighbour.
“Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow. Nice!”
Lebanon was drawn into the US and Israel’s war on Iran on March 2 after Tehran-aligned Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel.
Hezbollah said the attacks were in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war, on February 28, as well as Israel’s near-daily violations of a ceasefire it agreed to in Lebanon in November 2024.
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon since then have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than a million others. Israel’s military has also launched a ground invasion in southern Lebanon, seeking to seize more territory and create what it calls a “buffer zone”.
