NPR News: 06-19-2026 5PM EDT

The first round of direct political talks between Israel and Lebanon is set to resume next week in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday. The fifth round of negotiations will take place at the State Department. Rubio spoke by phone with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, reiterating the need to disarm the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and re-establish Lebanese government control over all of its territory. Hezbollah has historically rejected any peace deal between Israel and the Lebanese government. Rubio stressed that bilateral negotiations represent the only feasible path to ending recurrent cycles of violence, according to a State Department readout.

Meanwhile, the Russian military said its air defenses destroyed several dozen Ukrainian drones approaching Moscow on Friday. One fatality was reported: an eight-year-old girl who died when a drone struck a party. Russian President Vladimir Putin has not directly commented on the attacks, but his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, praised the performance of the city's air defenses, saying they had been robust despite complaints from city residents that no official warning was given as the drones approached. Peskov also urged the public to ignore dramatic pictures of plumes of smoke over Moscow shared widely online, saying people should instead search for images of the damage inflicted by Russia.