Lebanon calls for direct talks with Israel, accuses Hezbollah of betraying country

By Eyad Kourdi, Charbel Mallo, Zeena Saifi, CNN

(CNN) — In a remarkable statement Monday afternoon, Lebanon called for direct talks with Israel on “permanent arrangements for security and stability on our borders,” while accusing the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah of betraying the country.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun detailed his plan during a virtual meeting with European Union officials, in which he leveled sharp criticism at Hezbollah and Israel for what he called “an attempt to corner my country.” He accused Israel of showing “no respect for the laws of war, nor for international laws.” Israel’s assault on Lebanon has displaced more than 600,000 people and killed more than 400, including scores of women and children, Aoun said.

But it is his criticism of Hezbollah that is significant. Calling the Shiite Muslim group “an armed faction … that places no value on Lebanon’s interest nor on the life of its people,” Aoun said Hezbollah “wanted to achieve the fall of the State of Lebanon, under aggression and chaos.” He accused the group of working “for the sake of the calculations of the Iranian regime.”

“After Hezbollah’s decision to enter the regional fight around Iran — a decision that put the Lebanese government in deep embarrassment — the main worry of Beirut’s authorities has become to clearly delink themselves from Hezbollah’s actions, mainly in order to spare the entire country the deadly costs of an all-out Israeli reprisal,” said Joseph Bahout, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.

Aoun called for a new initiative, backed by the international community, which would establish a truce between Israel and Lebanon while helping the Lebanese armed forces disarm Hezbollah and confiscate its weaponry. The initiative would put in a place a “complete truce” with a halt to Israeli attacks as the two countries begin “direct negotiations under international sponsorship” to achieve a “final cessation of hostile acts” and “permanent arrangements for security and stability on our borders.” Under Aoun’s idea, Israel would gradually withdraw from the territories it has occupied in southern Lebanon, with its forces to be replaced by the Lebanese military.

Last week, Lebanon’s government declared Hezbollah’s military activities illegal, but it does not have the force required to effectively disarm Hezbollah on its own. Aoun nevertheless noted the importance of the March 2 decision, saying, “This is what we want to implement clearly and decisively.”

However, Lebanon’s inability to implement this decision makes the new initiative questionable at best.

“The central flaw and limitation of the Lebanese initiative is that, barring any substantial and decisive progress on its pledge to disarm Hezbollah, any negotiations it would embark on would be considered vain and useless,” Bahout said.

It’s not clear if Israel would engage on Aoun’s idea. The Israeli military chief has said Israel will not stop its operations in Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, which appears to leave little room for diplomacy, especially amid intense fighting along the border. Israel has also issued evacuation warnings for much of southern Lebanon, parts of the capital, Beirut, and the Beqaa Valley as it tries to target Hezbollah across the country.

Despite a nominal 2024 ceasefire, Israel has been carrying out near-daily strikes in Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of attempting to rearm and reestablish itself. Soon after the joint US-Israel attack on Iran, Hezbollah entered the fray by launching six projectiles at northern Israel. It provided the Israeli government with every reason it needed to launch a large-scale campaign against Hezbollah, including repeated waves of airstrikes and commando raids into Lebanese territory.

Eyal Zisser, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Tel Aviv University, called the statement from Lebanon’s president “a cry of help from a country, a president and a prime minister who have lost control of their territory.” Zisser was skeptical of Aoun’s outreach to the international community and said the initiative “won’t lead anywhere.”

“I don’t think it’s realistic under the current circumstances,” he told CNN.

On Monday afternoon, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz made clear his support for continued strikes on Lebanon. “From this point on, we must not only avoid retreating but seize the opportunity to strike Hezbollah,” he said in a statement.

“Diplomacy and a return to the ceasefire offer the best chance of averting Lebanon from sliding into chaos,” said Kaja Kallas, the top European Union diplomat, in a statement.

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