U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, back row center, speaks as he hosts a signing ceremony with Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, front row left, State Department Chief of Staff Daniel Holler, front row center, and Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh, front row right, at the US Department of State in Washington, DC, June 26. AFP-Yonhap
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Israel and Lebanon’s ambassadors to the U.S. Friday to announce a framework agreement that was described as a first step toward peace following months of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The agreement does not include Hezbollah and prompted one of the group's officials in Lebanon to warn of civil war. The U.S. State Department said the framework establishes a process for dismantling Hezbollah and for Lebanon to regain territory that was taken by Israeli forces as they battled the militant group.
The U.S. will facilitate a newly created “Military Coordination Group for Lebanon” to implement the framework, the State Department said, while committing $100 million in humanitarian assistance.
“For Lebanon, this Framework provides a genuine pathway out of a long crisis,” the State Department said. “For Israel, it creates a verifiable path to removing the persistent threat on its northern border.”
