The Lebanese delegation demanded during the seventh round of US-mediated negotiations that Israel disclose the number and condition of Lebanese prisoners being held in Israeli custody, An-Nahar reported.
In response, the Israeli delegation demanded information on the fate of 11 Jews who disappeared or were killed in Lebanon since the 1980s, as well as the return of their remains. Chief among these is captured Israeli navigator Ron Arad, who disappeared in 1986.
According to An-Nahar, one of Lebanon's leading and strongly anti-Hezbollah dailies, Israel based its request on provisions in the framework agreement requiring efforts to locate and return the missing. Lebanese officials, however, argued that the demand is impossible to meet given the state's limited capabilities.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Israeli delegation "demanded the return of the remains of Lebanese Jews killed during the civil war and information on the fate of Lebanese Jews who disappeared during the Lebanese civil war, particularly in the 1980s," alongside information on Ron Arad "or the handover of his remains."
These sources insisted that the Lebanese government "knows nothing about the remains of the Jews in the first place, nor does it know anything about Ron Arad," accusing Israel of making these demands to "justify refusing to cooperate on the Lebanese detainees file and also embarrass the Lebanese state, which has no information" on the matter, the site added.
Lebanese sources accused Israel of pursuing a "deliberate diversion policy" aimed at avoiding discussion of 34 Lebanese detainees allegedly held by Israel and shifting attention away from what they claimed to be Israeli violations in southern Lebanon, including actions against Lebanese Army positions.
Of these detainees, 10 are Hezbollah terrorists, three were imprisoned in Israel, two are nurses who disappeared while accompanying Hezbollah terrorists, and the remaining 21 are civilians, Asharq Al-Awsat reported. A list obtained by the site claimed that nine were detained during the war which broke out in March, while 22 were detained between October 2024 and February 2026.
Meanwhile, the Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper Al-Akhbar reported that Israel also raised the issue of a significant number of deceased Jews buried in Jewish cemeteries in Beirut and Sidon. Until the Six-Day War, thousands of Jews lived in Lebanon, continuing a centuries-old Jewish presence in the country. According to Ynet, Lebanon's Jewish population peaked at between 12,000 and 20,000.
Separately, a Lebanese diplomatic source told the Hezbollah-affiliated network Al Mayadeen that there are currently no plans to hold another round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel next month.
At the same time, Asharq Al-Awsat reported that both Lebanon and Israel agreed to continue discussions.