Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, under a year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism in the war with Hezbollah.

The two sides met at the UN peacekeeping force's headquarters in Lebanon's Naqura near the border with Israel, as part of a mechanism to oversee the ceasefire that took hold in November 2024.

Until now Israel and Lebanon, which have no formal diplomatic relations, had insisted on keeping military officers in the role.

"Today's meeting in Lebanon is an initial attempt to establish a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon. This is a historic development," Shosh Bedrosian, a spokeswoman for Netanyahu, said.

"This is the fi

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