Carrie Khan

Iran's foreign ministry says it won't be involved in overall peace talks that are going to be held in Pakistan on Saturday unless this Lebanon issue is part of the ceasefire agreement.

Trump is telling Netanyahu to pull back.

And speaking to NBC, Trump said Netanyahu got the message and is, quote, going to low key it.

A person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly tells NPR that Israel has agreed to reduce its military activity and that talks will take place directly between Israel and Lebanon at the ambassador levels.

And that will happen in Washington.

We don't know exactly when.

So as you said, this is a huge deal.

The two countries have never had negotiations directly like this before.

Right.

So talks are going to be difficult for sure.

Israel and Lebanon have been in a perpetual state of war since Israel's establishment in 1948.

Lebanon's government is very weak right now and doesn't have much control over Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, it does hold seats in the government, few, but they always say that the Lebanese leadership and the government doesn't speak for them.

And last night, a Hezbollah representative said that it rejects outright direct talks with Israel.

So it is going to be tough.

Well, I just got back from the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, and I heard repeatedly in those communities that have been hit hard by Hezbollah rockets that they don't want Israel to stop until they say Hezbollah is finished once and for all.

I heard that a lot, including from the general manager of the border town of Shlomi.

His name is Luchi Yousef.

And he said, if Israel were to stop right now, what was the point of the whole war?

And he says in a few months, Hezbollah will just be back, rearmed, and fighting will resume again as it always does.