Lebanon’s president has called for direct negotiations with Israel as part of a proposal to end the escalating conflict with Hezbollah, while sharply criticising the Iran-backed group for dragging the country into a wider regional war.
A spokesperson for President Joseph Aoun told the BBC that Lebanon was ready to negotiate, but not while the country remained under Israeli fire.
Speaking during a virtual meeting with senior European Union officials on Monday, Aoun outlined what he described as a path towards “permanent security and stability arrangements on our borders”.
Israeli officials have shown little sign of backing negotiations, and the government did not immediately comment.
Under the Lebanese president’s four-point plan, a “complete truce” would coincide with the disarmament of Hezbollah, and international assistance for the Lebanese Armed Forces to help them regain control of “areas of tension”.
“And simultaneously, Lebanon and Israel [to] begin direct negotiations under international sponsorship, in order to execute the aforementioned plan,” a statement said.
Aoun said the war had taken a devastating toll on Lebanon, with more than 700,000 people displaced, including 200,000 children, and hundreds killed in Israeli strikes over the past nine days, according to the United Nations.
“Some of them are on the roads. They have no shelter and not even the most basic necessities of life,” he said.
The president also delivered unusually blunt criticism of Hezbollah, accusing the Shia Muslim militia and political movement of acting against Lebanon’s national interests.
Referring to Hezbollah as an “armed faction”, Aoun said it gave “no weight to Lebanon’s interests or to the lives of its people”, and wanted the “collapse of the Lebanese state under aggression and chaos”.
The remarks follow the government’s declaration last week that Hezbollah’s military operations were illegal, though the state currently lacks the capacity to disarm the group on its own.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Lebanese government directly on X, writing: “It is your responsibility to enforce the ceasefire agreement and it is your responsibility to disarm Hezbollah.”
(BBC)
