The US State Department announced on Friday that the US-brokered talks between Lebanon and Israel, which were scheduled to end yesterday, Thursday, will continue for an additional day. The ministry explained that the fifth round of negotiations, which began at the beginning of the week, would resume on Friday morning, adding: “The talks between Israel and Lebanon are still continuing as we continue to facilitate this process.” In this context, the Times of Israel quoted a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington as saying that the two sides agreed to extend the negotiations to a fourth day, to be held on Friday at the headquarters of the US State Department. The spokesman added that Washington was hoping to conclude the fifth round, yesterday, Thursday, by signing a framework agreement that includes a partial Israeli withdrawal from areas within the buffer zone in Lebanon, with the Lebanese army replacing Israeli forces in those areas. The first three days of the Lebanese-Israeli negotiations, which are being held under American auspices, ended yesterday without achieving a breakthrough that would allow building on subsequent steps, allowing the “memorandum of understanding” drafted by the American side to be put into effect, starting with consolidating the ceasefire, all the way to setting a timetable for Israeli withdrawal from the south and north of the Litani River. Before the end of yesterday's session, the United States exerted pressure on the Lebanese and Israeli sides to reach an agreement and later sign a “declaration of intent” consecrating a ceasefire and adhering to the path of negotiations, while setting a date for the next round to discuss the Israeli withdrawal and the deployment of the Lebanese army south of the Litani.