00:00Hezbollah was calling for these talks to be scrapped.
00:03They didn't want to have them.
00:05They're clearly not in the room,
00:06but the shadow of Hezbollah is definitely in the room.
00:10And we must remember that Hezbollah is, of course, an Iranian proxy.
00:14And right now we've been talking about the US and Iran
00:18possibly holding those second round of ceasefire talks
00:22in the next couple of days.
00:24What kind of say do you think Hezbollah will have in this?
00:27Because we must remember something.
00:29Lebanon has been trying to disarm Hezbollah,
00:32but it's been unsuccessful in this mission time and time again.
00:36Yes, but that meeting, Ian,
00:38between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the ambassadors
00:43and the negotiators for the Lebanese and the Israeli side
00:48has had a positive, it seems, outcome
00:52from the statements that we're getting.
00:54So I want to just first take you through the State Department,
00:58the joint statement after that meeting.
01:01They have congratulated the two countries
01:04on what they call a historic milestone.
01:07And they've said that the State of Israel expressed its support
01:11for disarming all non-state terror groups
01:14and dismantling all terror infrastructure in Lebanon,
01:18expressed its commitment to working with the government of Lebanon
01:21to achieve that goal, to ensure security for the people of both countries.
01:26And, Leanne, if you look at the statement from the Israeli ambassador,
01:32he said that this time the Lebanese Hifa expressed a strong desire this time
01:39truly to dismantle Hezbollah's weapons.
01:42So all sides have agreed to launch direct negotiations
01:46brokered by the United States
01:48at what they've called a mutually agreed time and venue.
01:52But that is some very positive noises coming out on the back of that meeting.
Comments