{"id":122550,"date":"2025-07-14T17:05:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T15:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=122550"},"modified":"2025-07-14T07:51:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T05:51:40","slug":"15-05-112","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=122550","title":{"rendered":"Lebanese president nixes normalization with Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Lebanese president nixes normalization with Israel<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Charles Bybelezer<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy,\u201d Joseph Aoun said.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

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U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack (left) and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, on July 7, 2025. Credit: Lebanese Presidency Press Office.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday ruled out the prospect of normalizing relations with Israel, though he expressed a desire to end the longstanding conflict with the Jewish state.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeace is the lack of a state of war, and this is what matters to us in Lebanon at the moment. As for the issue of normalization, it is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy,\u201d Aoun said, according to Agence France-Presse<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The comments come after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar said last week that Jerusalem is committed to expanding the Abraham Accords<\/a> and is \u201cinterested in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors, to the circle of peace and normalization.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Syria\u2019s new governing authority<\/a> has claimed a willingness to work with the United States to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, which created a U.N.-monitored buffer zone separating the two countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thomas J. Barrack Jr., U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, told The New York Times<\/em> last week that Jerusalem and Damascus were engaged in \u201cmeaningful<\/a>\u201d talks aimed at restoring calm to their shared border.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel Defense Forces operate against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group in Southern Lebanon, July 2025. Credit: IDF.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On Friday, Aoun called on the Israeli military to withdraw from five positions along the Israel-Lebanon frontier. The outposts are located at strategic points, including a hill near Labbouneh, opposite the Israeli town of Shlomi; the Jabal Blat peak, across from Moshav Zar\u2019it; a hill opposite Moshav Avivim and Kibbutz Malkia; another facing Moshav Margaliot; and one near the town of Metula.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defense Minister Israel Katz said in March that IDF troops would remain at the sites in Southern Lebanon \u201cindefinitely<\/a>,\u201d despite the launch of talks<\/a> with Beirut over 13 disputed points along the border.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aoun claimed on Friday that the Israel Defense Forces presence in Lebanon \u201cobstruct[s] the complete deployment of the [Lebanese] army up to the internationally recognized borders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ceasefire agreement and U.N. Resolution 1701<\/strong><\/h4>\n

On Nov. 26, 2024, Jerusalem and Beirut signed a ceasefire deal<\/a> aimed at ending more than a year of cross-border clashes between the IDF and Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed terrorist group began attacking the Jewish state in support of Hamas a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of the agreement, both sides acknowledged the significance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War but has never been fully enforced. The resolution calls for the complete demilitarization of Hezbollah south of the Litani River and prohibits the presence of any armed groups in Lebanon other than the Lebanese Army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the truce, Israel has conducted frequent operations to prevent Hezbollah<\/a> from rebuilding its terrorist infrastructure and so violating the terms of the truce.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Southern Lebanon, as it seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 27, 2025. Photo by Ayal Margolin\/Flash90.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. roadmap for disarmament<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Barrack said on Monday that Hezbollah must see \u201ca future for them\u201d as part of a broader disarmament roadmap delivered to the Lebanese government on behalf of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHezbollah is a political party. It also has a militant aspect to it,\u201d Barrack told reporters after meeting with Aoun in Beirut, according to AFP<\/em>. \u201cHezbollah needs to see that there\u2019s a future for them, that the road is not harnessed solely against them, and that there\u2019s an intersection of peace and prosperity for them also.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hezbollah is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department.<\/span><\/p>\n

Barrack described the Lebanese government\u2019s response to the plan as \u201cthoughtful\u201d and \u201cspectacular,\u201d adding, \u201cWe\u2019re creating a go-forward plan. To create that, we need dialogue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While the official response was not made public, Aoun reiterated on Friday that his government is determined to \u201chold the monopoly over weapons in the country.\u201d The move, he said, would be carried out in accordance with \u201cthe interest of the state and its security stability to preserve civil peace on one hand, and national unity on the other.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli soldiers operating against Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, February 2025. Credit: IDF.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told JNS on Monday that while he hadn\u2019t heard Barrack\u2019s specific comments, \u201cHezbollah has to disarm. That is the position of President Trump\u2019s administration and, in my estimation, his people.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf Hezbollah wants to be a civil body without arms or anything and to be a part of the State of Lebanon, I don\u2019t interfere with Lebanon and how it wants to run itself. There\u2019s a democracy there. [But] Hezbollah won\u2019t have weapons. Period. No chance,\u201d Smotrich said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Sunday rejected<\/a> the possibility of disarmament, citing \u201cIsraeli threats\u201d and warning of a \u201cconfrontation\u201d in response.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lebanese president nixes normalization with Israel Charles Bybelezer \u201cIt is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy,\u201d Joseph Aoun said. . U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack (left) and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, on July 7, 2025. Credit: Lebanese Presidency Press Office. Lebanese President Joseph […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122550"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=122550"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122647,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122550\/revisions\/122647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}