US, French, Saudi officials to meet in Paris about preventing renewed war in Lebanon

Fears of broader conflict mount as end-of-year deadline for Hezbollah to lay down its arms nears; IDF says two of the terror group’s operatives hit in strikes

Senior officials from the US, France and Saudi Arabia will meet in Paris on Wednesday amid fears that Israel could embark on a new military operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon after a December 31 deadline to disarm the Iran-backed terror group passes, a diplomatic official told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.

The meeting is due to take place as Israeli strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure and activity have continued in the year-plus since a ceasefire took effect between the sides. Israel carried out two such strikes in succession on Tuesday.

The ceasefire required both Israel and Hezbollah to vacate southern Lebanon, to be replaced by the Lebanese military. Israel has withdrawn from all but five strategic posts along the border.

Israel says the strikes are against Hezbollah attempts to rebuild its strength following the war, and that the Lebanese army is not moving fast enough to take away the terror group’s weapons.

Against that backdrop, the aim of the meeting between US, French and Saudi representatives, the official said, is to “share notes” on how to prevent another outbreak of war in Lebanon. The US will be represented by Morgan Ortagus, the American special representative for Lebanon, while French President Emmanuel Macron’s Middle East adviser Anne-Claire Legendre will head the French side.

The official added that, as in Israel, “there is some frustration” among Western countries with the pace of the Lebanese Armed Forces’ disarming of Hezbollah.

The meeting is the latest in a series of intensified diplomatic efforts that aim to avert an escalation and maintain the November 2024 ceasefire that ended over a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The truce came after two months of open conflict in south Lebanon, which Israel invaded in a bid to ensure the return home of some 60,000 northerners displaced by Hezbollah’s near-daily attacks. The rocket attacks began on October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas invaded southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.

Weakened by the war and still facing regular Israeli strikes, Hezbollah is under domestic and international pressure to hand over its weapons. The Lebanese army has drawn up a plan to achieve that disarmament but has not completed the process. Hezbollah has rejected the calls to disarm.

On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, one of the officials leading the White House’s engagement with Lebanon. Meanwhile, Western and Arab diplomats toured an area along Lebanon’s border with Israel where Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers have been carrying out efforts to disarm Hezbollah.

Israel has ramped up its strikes in recent weeks. Those strikes continued Tuesday with the Israel Defense Force saying it targeted two Hezbollah operatives within an hour in southern Lebanon.

According to Lebanese media, the first strike hit a car driving on a road between the towns of Markaba and Odaisseh.

Less than an hour after announcing it had carried out the strike, the IDF reported a hit on another Hezbollah operative near the southern Lebanon town of Sebline.

Sebline is located some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Israel’s border, close to Sidon.

It is rare for the IDF to announce strikes on Hezbollah operatives shortly after they are carried out, as it generally waits for confirmation of their results first.

On Sunday, the IDF said it carried out three separate drone strikes on southern Lebanon, targeting what it said were three Hezbollah operatives who were violating the terms of the ceasefire agreement.

Agencies contributed to this report.