Experts suggest that scheduled talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials risk being misunderstood as conventional diplomacy. The central complexity involves Israel confronting Hezbollah, a hybrid actor, rather than solely the Lebanese state.

Eve Irvine is pleased to welcome Simon Mabon, Professor of International Politics and Director of the Richardson Institute for Peace Studies at Lancaster University, specialising in Middle East studies. He is also Director of SEPAD (the Sectarianism, Proxies and De-Sectarianization Project). He sees the current conflict between Lebanon and Israel as one defined more by layered, overlapping sovereignties. The scheduled talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials are, on the surface, historically...