The committee of the monitoring mechanism for the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will convene on Wednesday in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura. For the first time, the meeting will be attended by civilian representatives of each country. Until this point, the sessions were only attended by military figures.
The Israeli delegation will be led by Dr. Uri Resnick of the National Security Council, and the Lebanese delegation will be headed by Atty. Simon Karam, who in the past served as Lebanon's Ambassador to the United States.
The two are expected to participate in a discussion on promoting civilian-economic dialogue between the countries, in the presence of representatives from the international community.
The unusual move follows pressure applied by American Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, on the Lebanese government to include civilian representatives in the meeting.
According to diplomatic sources, this stage of the discussions aims to "allow the actual advancement of the talks and to convey the appearance of a normalization process."
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office confirmed the meeting and stated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Acting Director of the National Security Council to send a representative on his behalf.
It also noted that "this is an initial attempt to establish a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon."