Lebanon seeks pause in fighting before talks with Israel: Culture Minister

Lebanon and Israel are set to hold a preparatory meeting in Washington on Tuesday, with Lebanon's government saying the focus will be on ending the attacks. Speaking to Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, Lebanon's Culture Minister Ghassan Salame said the meeting aims to produce "a pause, if not a ceasefire, in military activity so that the shelling stops and we can talk with some kind of serenity about what negotiations should look like." Salame acknowledged that Lebanon has "not much leverage" as the country has seen "a retreat of the state in the past 20, 30 years," with the government now trying to reassert state authority. On Israel's insistence on the immediate disarmament of Hezbollah, Salame — who has mediated conflicts around the world — said: "I have never seen a disarmament process taking place in a few days or a few hours. This is a process that takes time — look at Central America, look at Southeast Asia." When Asked about US guarantees for a reduction in violence, he said "guarantees is probably too big a word, too committal a word," but confirmed there has been "a promise, some kind of commitment that there should be a de-escalation," which residents of Beirut and its suburbs have noticed in recent days. Subscribe to our channel: bit.ly
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