Israel warns Beirut that the raids must not end the talks

Israel has warned Lebanon against abandoning the peace talks after raids carried out by its armed forces in the south of the country. The warning came from Israel's ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter.

"If Beirut were to use this incident as a pretext to delay or break off the peace talks, it will hand a tactical victory to the enemies of peace," Leiter said. The same line was taken by the spokesman for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Doron Spielman, according to whom the raids against Hezbollah "should revive the negotiations and make them far more serious".

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun used a different formula to describe the same events. The attacks, he said, are a clear message about the negotiations. The gap between the two readings concerns the heart of the dispute: whether the use of force during a negotiation strengthens or damages it.

Fronts that stay open

In southern Lebanon the Israeli army is continuing operations against positions attributed to Hezbollah. On the Gaza front, an Israeli tank drove over an explosive device placed by Hamas, and the military said it had neutralised two people who had crossed the Yellow Line in the south of the Strip.

The Yellow Line is the demarcation set out in the agreements governing the current suspension of hostilities in Gaza. Every crossing is denounced by the parties as a breach of the understanding, and in recent weeks such episodes have recurred at regular intervals.

The talks between Israel and Lebanon concern above all the course of the land border and the terms of withdrawal from occupied positions. Neither side has announced a suspension of the negotiations, but no date has been given for the next meeting either.