US President Donald Trump hosted Israel's ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese ambassador to the US Nada Moawad in the Oval Office for a second round of US-facilitated talks.
"The meeting went very well! The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah," Trump wrote on Truth Social, without providing details on any assistance.
Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned armed group that is fighting Israel, was not present at the talks, and says it has "the right to resist" occupying forces.
Trump said he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun soon.
Trump also spoke to reporters in the Oval Office alongside the participants in the meeting, saying he hoped the leaders would meet during the three-week cessation of hostilities.
He said there was "a great chance" the two countries would reach a peace agreement in 2026.
Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and US ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa also attended the meeting.
The ceasefire, reached after talks between the two nations' ambassadors to Washington on April 14, was set to expire on Sunday.
It has yielded a significant reduction in violence, but attacks have continued in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops have seized a self-declared buffer zone.
A Lebanese official earlier said Beirut would push for an Israeli withdrawal, the return of Lebanese detained in Israel and a delineation of the land border in a next phase of negotiations.
Israel has sought to make common cause with Lebanon's government over Hezbollah, which was founded by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and which Beirut has been seeking to disarm peacefully for the past year.
Israeli ambassador Leiter said during the meeting that the talks must focus on rooting out Hezbollah rather than on Israel withdrawing its forces.
"If Hezbollah and (Iranian) operatives continue to be treated with kid gloves, a real process of achieving our mutual goal will remain unachievable," Leiter said, according to remarks shared by the Israeli embassy in Washington.
The Israeli military and Hezbollah traded rocket and air attacks on Thursday, with three militants reported killed by Israel and Lebanese officials saying an Israeli air strike killed three people.
Wednesday was Lebanon's deadliest day since the ceasefire took effect on April 16.
Those killed by Israeli strikes included Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, according to a senior Lebanese military official and her employer, Al-Akhbar newspaper.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the group wanted the ceasefire to continue but "on the basis of full compliance by the Israeli enemy".
At a televised media conference, he reiterated Hezbollah's objections to the face-to-face talks and urged the government to cancel all direct contact with Israel.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire in support of Iran in the regional war.
The ceasefire in Lebanon emerged separately from Washington's efforts to resolve its conflict with Tehran, though Iran had called for Lebanon to be included in any broader truce.
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