Lebanese President Joseph Aoun arriving at a Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, on Aug. 5, 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — The Israeli Intelligence Directorate presented a security review of the situation in Lebanon and Iran to Knesset members in recent days, including that the negotiations that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is conducting with Israel are putting his life in danger, according to Israel's Channel 12 reported on Wednesday.
"The negotiations that the Lebanese president is conducting with Israel are putting his life in danger," reads one of the main points presented by the Israeli Intelligence with the approval of the censor.
Lebanon’s ambassador to the United States, Nada Moawad, took part in two direct preliminary meetings with Israel, ahead of the launch of formal talks under U.S. sponsorship. The meetings helped extend the cease-fire with Israel by three weeks, following more than a month and a half of war with Hezbollah. The party heavily objects to the Lebanese government's decision to hold direct talks with Israel, saying it will act as if they do not exist.
In this context, U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for a meeting in Washington between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the Lebanese head of state has so far refused such a meeting.
The Israeli Intelligence Directorate also told Knesset members that Israeli attacks in Beirut are not in the agenda at the moment, but that there is nevertheless "authorization to attack against emerging threats." This makes it particularly difficult for people displaced from the southern suburbs of Beirut to to decide whether returning home is currently an option, knowing that the threat of potential strikes at any point looms large. Another point mentioned regards the dismantling of Hezbollah being "a long-term goal."
Since Israel carried out its coordinated attacks on April 8 across Beirut and its southern suburbs, killed hundreds of people, it has not carried out any further strikes on the capital. However, despite a cease-fire agreement reached on April 16, the Israeli army continues to attacking southern Lebanon and the Bekaa. As for Hezbollah, after refraining from carrying out any retaliatory attacks in the first few days after the cease-fire, it is now carrying out around three to five attacks per day, mainly against Israeli soldiers still deployed on occupied southern Lebanon.
Regionally, the Israeli Intelligence said that part of Iran's ballistic missile array has been restored, and that Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is still alive following reports that he had been seriously wounded in a strike on the first day of the war between Iran and the U.S.
