Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. (Credit: Photo taken from the X account of the Lebanese presidency)
BEIRUT — Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Monday that direct negotiations with Israel do not constitute a betrayal, asserting that “betrayal is committed by those who drag their country into war to serve foreign interests,” just hours after Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem called on Lebanese authorities to reverse their decision, arguing that it “plunges Lebanon into instability.”
Drawing the ire of pro-Iranian circles by taking over the negotiations file with Israel, Aoun said that “some accuse us of taking this path due to the lack of national consensus,” asking: “When you chose war, did you first obtain that consensus?” in a clear reference to the party that brought Lebanon into regional conflict after rocket fire against Israel was launched on March 2 in “revenge” for Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed two days earlier in U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran.
Aoun was the first to call for direct negotiations with Israel at the start of the conflict on March 3. The second direct contact between Lebanon and Israel since 1983, held on April 23 at the level of their respective ambassadors in Washington, resulted in a three-week extension of the cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, which entered into force on April 17 for an initial period of ten days.
While receiving a delegation of residents from Arkoub in southern Lebanon, mainly from Sunni villages, the president also said that “residents of the South continue to pay the price for others’ wars on our territory,” referring in particular to “wars waged in support of Gaza or Iran.” “If the war were being fought for Lebanon, we would support it. But when it serves the interests of others, I fully reject it,” he said.
Aoun rules out any 'humiliating' agreement
“Even before negotiations began — which started on April 14 — some launched accusations of treason, claiming we were entering talks from a position of capitulation. To them, we say: wait until the negotiations begin, then judge by their results,” he added.
Taking full “responsibility” for his decisions, Aoun said he aimed to “lead Lebanon on the path to salvation, in line with the principles I have set out,” seeking to end the state of war with Israel “in the manner of the armistice agreement,” asking: “Was that agreement a humiliation?” He stressed that he would not accept “a humiliating agreement.”
The president also said the American mediator had been informed from the outset that the cease-fire constitutes “a necessary first step to any further negotiations.” He added that this position was reiterated during meetings held on April 14 and 23 at ambassadorial level in Washington.
“This is clearly stated in the statement issued by the U.S. State Department at the end of the first meeting, the content of which we have confirmed, and whose third paragraph stipulates that Israel will conduct ‘no offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military or state targets, on Lebanese territory, by land, sea or air,’” he said.
Aoun stressed that this is Lebanon’s official position both domestically and in the framework of talks in Washington, adding that “any other discourse has no official backing.”
Earlier in the day, Aoun discussed the “security situation” in the country with the Minister of Defense, Michel Menassah, the Interior Minister, Ahmad Hajjar, and Lebanese Army Chief Rodolph Haykal, according to a post on X by the Lebanese Presidency. During his meeting with Hajjar, he emphasized “the importance of applying the law to all and implementing the decisions recently adopted by the Cabinet,” according to the Markaziya news agency. Among these decisions is notably that of “ensuring the state’s monopoly on weapons” in Beirut.
Earlier in the day, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem again called on Lebanese authorities to reverse their decision to enter direct negotiations with Israel, saying it “plunges Lebanon into a cycle of instability,” as well as their decision to ban the party’s military wing.
In a statement broadcast on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar channel, he described the talks as a “free, humiliating and unnecessary concession, whose only justification is submission without compensation.” He reiterated his “categorical rejection” of direct negotiations, calling instead for indirect talks, and accused the Lebanese government of “giving up Lebanon’s rights, ceding territories and confronting its own resistance.”
For Qassem, Lebanese leaders must therefore reverse the “grave mistakes that plunge Lebanon into a cycle of instability,” including the annulment of the March 2 decision criminalizing “the resistance and its supporters.”
Hezbollah MP lashes out at Aoun
Ali Ammar, a Hezbollah MP, responded vehemently to Aoun, denouncing a “miserable regime” that is attempting to “sell the country to the Zionists.” “The resistance will remain the symbol of the nation’s dignity; as for the submissive and the traitors, their prostration before the invaders will not grant them the slightest shred of national honor,” he declared in a rare public statement.
Without directly mentioning the president’s remarks, the MP stated in a press release that “leveling accusations against an entire community and branding it as an enemy will not allow a wretched regime to sell the country to the Zionists.” “The members of the resistance and the families of their martyrs across Lebanon embody patriotism. They need no certificate of allegiance, for the blood of their sons will wash away the shame of a regime that brings humiliation and dishonor upon its homeland,” he added.
“It is already shameful that Netanyahu has made them complicit in every act of aggression he perpetrates against our country, and in the blood of every child he is spilling these days in the South,” he further stated.
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