Israel and Lebanon conclude direct talks as strikes go on.

A Lebanese man looks down from a destroyed building as workers and relatives continue the sixth day of searching for missing victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit a residential building in Beirut, April 14, 2026. (David Guttenfelder/The New York Times)

By MICHAEL CROWLEY, EUAN WARD, ANUSHKA PATIL, FRANCESCA REGALADO and JOHN YOON

Israeli and Lebanese officials concluded more than two hours of direct talks Tuesday in Washington as Israel’s military campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon continued to threaten the U.S.-Iranian ceasefire.

The Israeli ambassador, Yechiel Leiter, emerged from the meeting and said both countries are “united in liberating Lebanon” from Iranian influence. The Lebanese ambassador who took part in the talks, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, did not immediately comment.

Leiter said that the meeting represented “the beginning” of a new effort to defeat Hezbollah. He said the parties would release a joint statement.

Their face-to-face meeting was notable because Israel and Lebanon do not have diplomatic relations. The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which continued in full force Tuesday, is one of three major points of contention as diplomats try to resolve the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. The others are the status of Iran’s nuclear program and control of the Strait of Hormuz, a major choke point in the international energy trade.

“This is a process, not an event,” Rubio said at the start of the talks. “All of the complexities of this matter are not going to be resolved in the next six hours.”

Even as he downplayed expectations, Rubio added that the talks represented an effort to bring “a permanent end to 20 or 30 years of Hezbollah influence in this part of the world.” The Lebanese government has no direct control over Hezbollah. Hezbollah is not a part of the talks, and it has long opposed direct talks with Israel.

Israel’s airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Tuesday included one near the main hospital in the town of Tibnin that caused “significant damage” and injured several people, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency. The medical center is one of a dwindling number in the country’s south as Israel intensifies its bombing campaign and ground invasion.

In the Strait of Hormuz, the status of a U.S. Navy blockade remained uncertain Tuesday. President Donald Trump announced the move to cut off Iran’s oil income, after high-level U.S.-Iranian negotiations broke down in Pakistan over the weekend. Trump told the New York Post that new talks could take place over the next two days in Pakistan.

Tracking data showed that several ships had passed through the strait — a vital conduit for global oil and gas shipments — before and after a deadline set by the United States. Some of those ships had departed from Iranian ports, were carrying Iranian products or were under U.S. government sanctions, according to trade analysis firm Kpler.

It was not immediately known whether the ships that had departed from Iranian ports fell within a grace period around the deadline, had permission to pass or had bypassed the blockade. The U.S. military has offered few details on what it would do if merchant vessels tried to run through the blockade, which it has said applied to ships traveling to or from Iranian ports. No interdictions have occurred so far.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

— Economy: The International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday that disruptions from the war to oil markets could slow growth, fuel inflation and make a global recession more likely. Even if the conflict is short-lived, the damage to the global economy has been done, the IMF said.

— Energy: The International Energy Agency said Tuesday it expected demand for oil in the current quarter to shrink by 1.5 million barrels a day. Resuming the flow of supplies through the Strait of Hormuz is “the single most important variable in easing the pressure on energy supplies, prices and the global economy,” the agency said.

— Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,701 civilians, including 254 children, had been killed in Iran as of Wednesday. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Monday that 2,089 people had been killed in the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. In attacks attributed to Iran, at least 32 people have been killed in Persian Gulf nations. At least 22 people had been killed in Israel as of Sunday, as well as 12 Israeli soldiers fighting in Lebanon. The American death toll stands at 13 service members.