WASHINGTON, April 14 -- Lebanese and Israeli representatives are scheduled to meet in Washington Tuesday for US-mediated talks on ending the war in Lebanon, but the prospects of an agreement appear slim. 

Naim Qassem - the leader of pro-Iran Hezbollah, which is battling Israel - called for the talks to be scrapped before they even began, describing them as "futile." 

Lebanon was pulled into the region-wide Iran war on March 2 after Hezbollah attacked Israel. 

Since then Israeli strikes - including an extremely heavy attack on Beirut on April 8 - have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than one million, despite international calls for a ceasefire. 

And Israeli ground forces have invaded south Lebanon.&...