Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, wrote on the X social network that progress on the path to peace between Israel and Lebanon will happen only when “Hezbollah, the puppet of the Islamic Republic’s shadow-play, is removed.”

These remarks came after Israel’s decision to release five Lebanese citizens as a gesture of goodwill, amid ongoing efforts to find the remains of Jews killed in Lebanon.

Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office previously said that Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed that, within the framework of negotiations with Lebanon, the issue of locating and returning the bodies of the leaders of Lebanon’s Jewish community who were kidnapped and killed in the mid-1980s should be pursued.

Huckabee also thanked Michel Eizai, the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, for the efforts made in this regard.

Meanwhile, the office of Israel’s defense minister said that Yoav Gallant, the defense minister, and Aviv Zamir, the chief of staff of the country’s army, held a meeting to assess the security situation on several fronts.