First Israel-Lebanon talks productive, aim to start formal negotiations: US

The State Department says the first high-level meeting between Israel and Lebanon in decades was "productive" and will continue with the aim of launching direct negotiations.

In a statement released after the two-hour session in Washington between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon to the United States, the department said, "All sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue."  Israel has been fighting Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and demands that the group, which opposed the talks and was not represented, be disarmed.