Lebanon President Joseph Aoun says aiming to end hostilities with Israel talks
Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has harshly criticized the Lebanese government’s talks with Israel, which are scheduled to reach a second round on Thursday.
Following the first round of talks last week, US President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire that will pause more than six weeks of war between Hezbollah and Israel, an explosive front in the broader Middle East war.
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Hezbollah lawmaker Hasan Fadlallah told AFP it was “in the interest” of Aoun and Lebanon to withdraw from the talks, but added that his group wanted the ceasefire to continue.
A US State Department official told AFP that new talks between the US ambassadors of Lebanon and Israel will be held in Washington on Thursday, after the first direct talks between the two countries in decades were held on April 14.
However, Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported an Israeli drone strike on Qaqaiyat al-Jisr in the south of the country on Monday and Israeli artillery shelling on the border town of Houla.
Lebanon’s health ministry said six people were injured in Qaqaiyat al-Jisr.
In a statement from the Israeli army, it was stated that soldiers “identified terrorists” who “violated ceasefire agreements” in the Bint Jbeil and Litani regions of southern Lebanon and that the air force “eliminated” them.
The UN Security Council on Monday condemned the killing of a French peacekeeper in Lebanon, whose death France blamed on Hezbollah.
A Frenchman was killed and three others were injured when his troops were ambushed on Saturday as they advanced towards the UN Interim Force (UNIFIL) outpost in Lebanon, which has been cut off by fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.
“Security Council members condemned the attack in the strongest terms…(and) reaffirmed their full support for UNIFIL,” the UN body said in a statement.
NNA also reported that the Israeli army carried out “explosions… in parallel with extensive demolition operations” in Mais al-Jabal and condemned the “systematic destruction affecting homes, livelihoods, buildings and infrastructure” in the town and several other border villages.
“It is in the interest of Lebanon, the president and the government, to move away from the path of direct negotiations and return to the national understanding of the best option for Lebanon,” Fadlallah told AFP.
‘Threatening’
“Maybe through indirect negotiations, even through the United States, we can achieve Lebanon’s goals,” Fadlallah said.
Aoun said the aim of the talks was to “cease hostilities, end Israel’s occupation of the southern regions, and deploy the (Lebanese) army up to the internationally recognized southern borders.”
Fadlallah said regional powers including Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are working to build the US-Iran diplomatic pipeline and create “a regional umbrella that can provide some kind of guarantee for Lebanon.”
“Entering direct bilateral negotiations alone, amid deep divisions and internal disagreements in Lebanon, poses a threat to internal reconciliation.”
Aoun said on Friday: “We negotiate on our own behalf… we are no longer a pawn in anyone’s game, we are no longer an arena for anyone’s wars, and we never will be again.”
Tehran had insisted that the Lebanon ceasefire was among the terms of the ceasefire with Washington in the Middle East war.
On the road leading to Beirut airport in the Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs, AFP photos show new graffiti attacking Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam after they approved the talks.
One of the spray-painted signs read: “Joseph is a traitor, Nawaf is a renegade.”
“Doing business with Israel is forbidden… no to normalization,” said another.
‘Sacrifices’
Hezbollah supporters also belittled Aoun on social media.
“Despite all our sacrifices, this man wants to speak on our behalf?” Another user shared a post on
Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,300 people and displaced more than a million people in Lebanon, according to Lebanese officials.
“Any outcome of direct negotiations cannot be imposed on the people who made these sacrifices,” Fadlallah told AFP. he said.
Aoun on Monday appointed Simon Karam, Lebanon’s former ambassador to Washington, to head negotiations with Israel.
Lebanon does not have diplomatic relations with its southern neighbor.
In December, Karam became the first Lebanese civilian representative in decades to speak directly to Israeli representatives as part of a committee that will oversee a 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Lebanon faces two options: continued conflict “or negotiations to end this war and achieve lasting stability,” Aoun said on Monday.
“I chose negotiations and I am full of hope that we can save Lebanon,” he said.
