BEIRUT (AP) — With airstrikes rocking Beirut and Israeli troops advancing against Hezbollah, Lebanon's government has broken a taboo by proposing the first direct talks with Israel in decades. But Lebanese officials say they want the fighting to end first — and it might be too late for that.
Hezbollah’s decision to enter the wider Iran war by firing rockets at Israel has led to the heavy Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing some 880 Lebanese and driving over a million people from their homes.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah views the latest war as an existential struggle, and Israel is threatening a wider ground invasion, the seizure of territory and the destruction of Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure.
The United States, which has mediated during past flare-ups, has so far shown no interest in doing so this time around.
Last week, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun offered to hold direct negotiations with Israel for the first time since the 1982 Israeli invasion during Lebanon's civil war. Aoun also asked for a boost in funding for Lebanese troops and reaffirmed his commitment to disarm Hezbollah, a longstanding Israeli and U.S. demand.
But Lebanon wants the fighting to end before any talks with Israel, according to three Lebanese diplomatic and government officials familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comment about the offer of talks. But Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, during a visit to an Israeli town hit by an Iranian missile, denied any talks were planned.
The agreement that ended Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war called for the disarmament of all armed groups, but Hezbollah alone kept its weapons, saying they were needed to protect Lebanon from Israel, which occupied the country's south until 2000.
Successive Lebanese governments, even those dominated by Hezbollah’s political rivals, refused to directly confront the group, which was widely seen as more powerful than Lebanon’s armed forces. There were fears that any attempt to disarm Hezbollah by force could rekindle the civil war.
That calculus started to change in 2024, when Israel killed most of Hezbollah’s top leaders and pummeled its armed wing, potentially opening the door for Lebanese authorities to exert greater control.
Aoun, a former army commander, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who both took office in early 2025, pledged to disarm Hezbollah, a position with wide support among Lebanon’s war-weary population.
In the months leading up to the war, the government deployed troops across large parts of southern Lebanon and said it dismantled over 500 Hezbollah warehouses and military positions. But it did not confront the group directly.
When Hezbollah launched a volley of missiles at Israel days after the surprise U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran, the Lebanese government condemned the militant group, outlawed its activities, and arrested several militants it accused of illegal possession of weapons.
But by then the country had been plunged into yet another war.
Hezbollah, which has launched waves of missiles and drones into northern Israel since that initial attack, still portrays itself as Lebanon’s only viable defense.
It accuses Israel of violating a 2024 U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement because it continued to launch regular airstrikes, which often killed civilians, and refused to withdraw from five strategic points along the border. Hezbollah also likely feels obligated to support Iran, its main sponsor, at a moment of peril.
Israel says Hezbollah is in violation of past agreements requiring it to disarm and that the airstrikes were aimed at preventing attacks. It has long accused Lebanese authorities of failing to disarm the group and warned that it would do so itself, at potentially great cost to Lebanon.
Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Lebanese government “will pay an increasing price in infrastructure damage and territorial loss until the commitment to disarm Hezbollah is fulfilled.”
Hezbollah officials have denounced the offer of direct talks with Israel and blame the government for failing to end the Israeli strikes or the occupation of the border areas.
Mahmoud Qamati, a senior official in Hezbollah's political bureau, said the offer of talks with Israel was a “concession and a big mistake,” in light of “the ongoing occupation and aggression.”
“This move would be stabbing the resistance in the back. The state cannot make any promises without the resistance’s approval,” he told the Al Jazeera network.
During past blow-ups, Lebanon would often turn to the United States, which has leverage over Israel and is a major donor to the Lebanese military. But Washington appears to be preoccupied with the wider war and its impact on the global economy.
“There is no senior official in the White House focusing on Lebanon,” said Randa Slim, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Stimson Center. Thomas Barrack, who serves as the White House envoy to Turkey, Syria and Lebanon, dismissed Lebanon as a “failed state” last year.
Slim said the offer of talks was unlikely to gain traction or head off an Israeli invasion.
Israel and the U.S had expected more decisive action from Lebanon’s army after the last war, despite its limited capabilities and financial struggles, and the risks of confronting Hezbollah directly. They may not be inclined to give it another chance.
“They had been very clear with the Lebanese on how important it was to control Hezbollah from doing anything offensively,” said Ed Gabriel, president of the American Task Force on Lebanon, a nonprofit that aims to build stronger U.S.-Lebanon ties.
“Hezbollah’s actions have now set back for the time being any resolution of this war and created a lack of confidence by U.S. officials that the (Lebanese armed forces) can control and disarm Hezbollah,” he said.
Israeli troops are meanwhile advancing deeper into southern Lebanon ahead of an expected wider ground invasion. The Israeli military has struck and destroyed bridges and key roads, and issued evacuation warnings for an area stretching dozens of miles (kilometers) north of the border.
The Lebanese government, in the grip of a severe, yearslong financial crisis, is scrambling to provide shelter and aid for almost one million people displaced. It is also calling on the international community to press Israel to spare key infrastructure, like Beirut's airport and seaport, according to one of the Lebanese officials.
Aoun, once confident he could disarm Hezbollah with minimal confrontation, continues with his flurry of diplomatic calls from the hilltop presidential palace. Drones circle overhead, airstrikes echo in the distance, and plumes of smoke rise to the south.
Associated Press writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
FILE - Lebanese President Joseph Aoun gestures to journalists at the Presidential Palace, in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel said Tuesday it killed two senior Iranian security officials in overnight strikes in a major blow to the country’s leadership. Iran, which did not immediately confirm either death, fired new salvos of missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel in a war that showed no signs of abating.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were “eliminated last night," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said. Larijani was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war.
Both men were key to Iran’s violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the theocracy’s 47-year rule. The killings would strip Iran of important leaders during a war that presents that greatest test for the Islamic Republic in recent decades.
With concerns growing about a global energy crisis, Iran launched fresh attacks against several of its Gulf Arab neighbors and oil infrastructure throughout the region. Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace, the second disruption to flights in the city in as many days. An Iranian official said Tehran had no intention of relinquishing its tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil.
The Israeli military also said it had begun a “wide-scale wave of strikes” across Iran’s capital and was stepping up strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Larijani hails from one of Iran’s best-known political families. A former parliamentary speaker and senior policy adviser, he advised the late Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration.
Larijani was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January as Tehran violently suppressed nationwide protests. It identified him as being “responsible for coordinating the response to the protests on behalf of the supreme leader of Iran.”
Soleimani also was sanctioned by the U.S., as well as the European Union and other nations, over his role in helping suppress dissent for years through the Basij.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killings were aimed at weakening Iran's government. “We are undermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it. It won’t happen quickly or easily, but if we persist, they will have the chance to take their destiny into their own hands,” he said.
There have been no signs of anti-government protests since the war began, as many Iranians are sheltering from the American and Israeli strikes.
The reported killings of Larijani and Soleimani came on the eve of “Chaharshanbe Souri,” or the Festival of Fire, in Iran on Tuesday night and shortly before the Persian new year.
State media aired footage Tuesday of pro-government demonstrations, including images of some men in plainclothes branding assault rifles and shotguns on the back of motorcycles — a sign of the government wanting to prevent renewed protests against the theocracy.
Iran kept up the pressure on the energy infrastructure around the region, hitting an oil facility in Fujairah, an emirate in the United Arab Emirates that has been repeatedly targeted. State-run WAM news reported that no one had been injured in the blast from the drone strike.
A man was killed by the debris of a missile intercepted over Abu Dhabi, the eighth person to die in the UAE since the start of the war, authorities said.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
A handful of ships have crossed through the strait, and Iran has said the vital waterway technically remains open — just not for the United States, Israel and their allies. About 20 vessels have been struck since the war began.
With oil prices rising, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had demanded that roughly a half-dozen countries send warships to ensure ships can pass through the Strait of Hormuz. But his appeals brought no immediate commitments, with many saying they are hesitant to get involved in a war with no defined exit plan and skeptical that they could do more than the U.S. Navy.
The UAE shut down its airspace early Tuesday as its military reported it was “responding to missile and drone threats from Iran.” The closure was soon lifted but it underscored the balancing act Emirati authorities face in trying to keep their long-haul carriers, Emirates and Etihad, flying as Iran continues to target the country. The UAE said its air defenses responded to 10 ballistic missiles and 45 drones Iran fired Tuesday at the country.
Countries around the region also came under fire: Saudi Arabia said it intercepted drones, while air defenses could be heard targeting incoming fire over Qatar's capital, Doha. Attacks from Iran-linked proxy forces continued in Iraq, where the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was hit with shrapnel from intercepted drones.
The Israeli military early Tuesday said it had launched new attacks across Tehran and targeted Hezbollah militants in the Lebanese capital. Hezbollah began firing rockets into the northern Israel after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran last month.
In Iran, it said it hit command centers, missile launch sites and air defense systems. There was no immediate confirmation from Iran, where little information has been coming out due to internet outages, round-the-clock airstrikes and tight restrictions on journalists.
More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the start of the conflict, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
Israel did not immediately release details of its attacks on Lebanon, but the Lebanese army said that one of its soldiers died and four more were wounded in an airstrike on the village of Kfar Sir. Two more soldiers were killed in another Israeli strike near the southern city of Nabatiyeh, the army said, and an airstrike near Beirut’s international airport killed one person and wounded nine, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Israel’s strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese — or roughly 20% of the population — according to the Lebanese government, which says some 850 people have been killed.
Israel reported two Iranian salvos early Tuesday fired toward Tel Aviv and an area south of the Sea of Galilee, and then more later in the day. More launches from Lebanon were also reported.
In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.
A top U.S. counterterrorism official resigned Tuesday, citing concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran. Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration’s war.
His resignation reflects unease about the war within Trump’s political base just as midterm election races start to heat up. Trump’s MAGA coalition is splintering over what it sees as the president’s failure to keep his “America First” campaign promise by leading the U.S. into a war that is driving up gas prices.
Rising reported from Bangkok, Corder from The Hague, Netherlands, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
Fire and plumes of smoke rise after a drone struck a fuel tank forcing the temporary suspension of flights. near Dubai International Airport, in United Arab Emirates, early Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo)
FILE - Ali Larijani, center, head of Iran's National Security Council, gestures as Hezbollah supporters throw rice to welcome him outside Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE -Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, speaks during a press conference after his meeting with the Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - Commander of Iran's Basij paramilitary force, Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
A view of a building damaged in an Israeli airstrike, in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Two men ride their motorbike past a billboard of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
U.S. Embassy is seen across the Tigris River in Baghdad, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Fire and plumes of smoke rises after a drone struck a fuel tank forcing the temporary suspension of flights. near Dubai International Airport, in United Arab Emirates, early Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo)
Volunteers clean debris from a residential building damaged when a nearby police station was hit Friday in a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
