Massad Boulos, U.S. envoy for Arab and African affairs, speaks at The Next Three Billion @ UNGA Week event in New York on Sept. 24, 2025. (Credit: Dave Kotinsky/AFP)
Massad Boulos, U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior envoy for Arab and African affairs, said Monday that peace talks over Gaza could expand to include Lebanon and Syria, in a renewed attempt to spur direct negotiations between Beirut and Tel Aviv.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Boulos said that he was hopeful the Gaza cease-fire would hold despite heavy Israeli strikes on the enclave Sunday and continued fighting, to “pave the way for broader normalization between Israel and the rest of the Arab world.”
“This is unprecedented. There has never been any plan that has had so much support. So we strongly believe that it will hold,” he said. World leaders had gathered in Sharm al-Sheikh on Oct. 13 for a "peace summit" to outline the next steps of a post-war Gaza.
“Things may not always be very smooth. There will always be some hiccups, but that’s the nature of these sorts of conflicts. There will always be some challenges, but they will be resolved,” he added, echoing U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who had made similar remarks the previous day and is expected to arrive in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Peace talks could expand to Syria and Lebanon, where there has been ample diplomatic activity in recent weeks, said Boulos and praised the call by President Joseph Aoun to open direct dialogue with Israel as “a good start.”
“We have been urging them to start this dialogue, so we hope it will happen as soon as possible,” he added, referring to a message from U.S. envoy Tom Barrack the previous day, in which Barrack underscored the importance of negotiations and Hezbollah’s disarmament.
In his message, as he prepares to hand over his role in Lebanon to new U.S. Ambassador Michel Issa, Barrack urged the launch of “security and border discussions with Israel” following what he called the “failure” of the November 2024 cease-fire agreement that ended 13 months of war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Barrack attributed that failure to the lack of a “direct agreement” between the two sides, which, he said, prevented the creation of a “real mechanism for enforcement” of the terms.
Israel continues to strike the South daily and the Bekaa Valley often, and maintains at least six positions on Lebanese soil.
Taking advantage of Issa’s arrival in Beirut, Washington is reportedly considering a new “work plan” for Lebanon, according to information obtained by L’Orient Today. The plan would include guidelines stressing the need for direct negotiations with Israel to resolve border demarcation issues and ensure an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
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