Israel and Lebanon on Tuesday agreed that Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon must give up power and disarm, officials said.

The Iran-backed terror group operates as a political party inside Lebanon’s government, with the militants controlling their own army separate from Beirut’s. 

Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter — speaking after the first round of peace talks betwen Israel and Lebanon in DC on Tuesday — said both Jerusalem and Beirut support peace and oppose Hezbollah’s military grip and dealings with Iran.

“The United States congratulated the two countries on this historic milestone and expressed its support for further talks, and for the government of Lebanon’s plans to restore the monopoly of force and to end Iran’s overbearing influence,” according to a released joint statement.

Leiter hailed the negotiations, the first of its kind between the two nations in 33 years, as a step in the right direction to end the ongoing violence.  

“We discovered today that we’re on the same side of the equation,” Leiter told reporters after the historic, two-hour meeting. 

“We are both united in liberating Lebanon from an occupation power dominated by Iran called Hezbollah,” he said.

“The Lebanese government made it very clear that they will no longer be occupied by Hezbollah.”

With Hezbollah weakened after nearly three years of war with Israel, the time is right to disarm the terror group and remove its influence in Lebanon, Leiter said.

Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh did not elaborate on Leiter’s summation of the talks, only saying she called for a cease-fire and for the hundreds of thousands displaced in Lebanon to be allowed to return home. 

“I also called for the adoption of practical measures to alleviate the severe humanitarian crisis that Lebanon continues to endure as a result of the ongoing conflict,” she said.

Leiter said negotiators from both sides are due back in their capitals to review what was discussed in the peace talks. 

While no follow-up meeting has been scheduled yet, Leiter said he expects a second round of talks to take place in the coming weeks in Washington. 

Tuesday’s powwow was led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“All of the complexities of this matter are not going to be resolved in the next six hours, but we can begin to move forward and create the framework for something can happen, something very positive, something very permanent, so the people of Lebanon can have the kind of future they deserve, and so that the people of Israel can live without fear,” Rubio told reporters as the meeting got under way.

The deal looks to end the fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah, which continued to exchange fire Tuesday, with rocket blasts reported against both sides of the border.

The conflict between the two sides was reignited over the US-Israel war against Iran, with missiles bombarding northern Israel and southern Lebanon on a daily basis.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest conflict broke out March 2, according to health officials, who do not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that a clear goal of the peace talks was to see Hezbollah disarm, with the Jewish state vowing that it would not agree to a temporary cease-fire, only a permanent end to the fighting.

Hours before the negotiations in Washington began, Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of Hezbollah’s political council, said the militant group would not abide by whatever is agreed to in the peace talks.

“As for the outcomes of this negotiation between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy, we are not interested in or concerned with them at all,” Safa told the Associated Press. “We are not bound by what they agree to.”