Israel agrees to talks on Lebanon border, frees five Lebanese

Israel said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold talks to demarcate its border with Lebanon, adding it would release five Lebanese held by the Israeli military in what it called a "gesture to the Lebanese president".

A statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel had agreed with Lebanon, the US and France to establish working groups to discuss the demarcation line between the two countries.

Lebanon said it had received the four Lebanese hostages from Israel, with a fifth to be handed over on Wednesday, according to a statement by the Lebanese president's office on X.

Lebanese media including the state news agency NNA reported that the released Lebanese hostages had arrived in a hospital in southern Lebanon's Tyre.

In a statement on X the same day, US Deputy Presidential Special Envoy, Morgan Ortagus said: "Today, the United States announced we are bringing together Lebanon and Israel for talks aimed at diplomatically resolving several outstanding issues between the two countries."

She added that all those involved remained committed to maintaining the ceasefire.

Though Israel has largely withdrawn from southern Lebanon under a ceasefire deal agreed in November, its troops continue to hold five hilltop positions in the area with airstrikes in southern Lebanon citing what it described as Hezbollah activity.

The ceasefire deal ended more than a year of conflict between Israel's military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that was playing out in parallel with the Gaza war.

The fighting peaked in a major Israeli air and ground campaign that uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon and left the Iranian-backed Hezbollah badly weakened, with most of its military command killed in Israeli strikes.