U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in Washington on Tuesday for the first direct peace talks between the two countries in decades.
Rubio is mediating the talks between Israeli envoy Yechiel Leiter and Lebanon's Nada Hamadeh Moawad, which began around 3 p.m. GMT.
But pro-Iran Hezbollah – which is battling Israeli forces in southern Lebanon – called for the talks to be scrapped before they even began.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers from 17 countries, including the U.K., urged Israel and Lebanon to "seize this opportunity."
Britain's Foreign Ministry posted the ministers' joint statement saying "direct negotiations can pave the way to bring lasting security for Lebanon and Israel as well as the region."
