Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in the chamber, Dec. 17, 2025. (Credit: Hassan Ibrahim/Lebanese Parliament)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Friday that there is no point in negotiating with Israel under the pressure of ongoing fighting, noting in an interview with the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat that the cease-fire has allowed Israel's army to "continue its offensive and perpetrate massacres at an unprecedented rate."
Direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel began in Washington at the start of April, with two meetings held at the ambassadorial level between the two countries.
The Amal Movement (of which Berri is the leader) and Hezbollah have so far expressed opposition to these talks. Hezbollah, meanwhile, has been waging a war it launched itself on March 2 against Israel and intends to include the Lebanese file in negotiations between the United States and Iran.
As for Berri, he says he is in favor of indirect talks, unlike President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who have from the outset of this war called for separating the Lebanese and Iranian issues through direct negotiations led by the Lebanese state.
The cease-fire has theoretically been in effect since April 16 but remains largely unenforced, especially in southern Lebanon, where fighting continues with dozens dead and wounded on the Lebanese side.
In his interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Berri noted that the United States "is not intervening to put an end to the aggression and strengthen the cease-fire" that it helped broker. "What am I supposed to tell the families of those who have been martyred because of Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon?" he asked.
Responding to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in favor of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel "in the coming weeks," the parliament speaker said he had "shut down the engines," implying he has ceased all diplomatic efforts and coordination with Aoun. This, he said, is the reason he refused to attend the meeting scheduled for Wednesday in the Baabda Presidential Palace with the head of state and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to discuss negotiations.
The United States is pushing for a swift agreement between Lebanon and Israel, notably for a direct meeting between Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, something the Lebanese president continues to refuse.
