Lebanon claims US ambassador Michel Issa ready to meet with Hezbollah, US official denies

A Lebanese report on Thursday claimed that US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa received approval to meet with Hezbollah, but a US official denied this. Ambassador Issa had previously stated on Wednesday that he was not currently in talks with Hezbollah but would be open to discussions if the organization had something to offer. This comes after the US announced new sanctions against Hezbollah last week, updating its designation as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" to explicitly link its activities to Iran and the Quds Force.

"The current change is intended to more explicitly link Hezbollah's activities to Iran and the Quds Force."

Earlier on Thursday, Israel informed the US that a pilot program in southern Lebanon, initiated after a memorandum of understanding between Beirut and Jerusalem, had failed. Israel expressed dissatisfaction with the Lebanese army's operations against Hezbollah's infrastructure and operatives, with senior IDF officials assessing that Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal continues to cooperate with Hezbollah and is ineffective in counter-terrorism efforts.