BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Wednesday that Lebanon has chosen negotiations with Israel to avoid the “horrors and tragedies” of war, despite the difficulty and obstacles facing the process.
“We have made the decision to enter negotiations in order to avoid the horrors and tragedies caused by war,” Aoun told visitors at Baabda Palace. “It is true that it is not easy or quick and there are obstacles and difficulties, but it remains far better than war.”
He highlighted Lebanon’s commitment to the “objectives of the negotiations, namely the liberation of the south, the deployment of the army up to the borders, the recovery of prisoners, the return of residents and reconstruction.
“These cannot be achieved through war, so there is no choice but to negotiate,” he added.
Aoun’s remarks came amid continued uncertainty over the timing of the eighth round of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations, due to be held in Rome in early September.
A Lebanese official closely following the process told Arab News that significant obstacles remained.
“Obstacles remain firmly in place, and president Aoun blames both the Israelis and Hezbollah for the blockage,” the official said. “Israel resists withdrawing from more buffer zones, while Hezbollah refuses to hand its weapons over to the Lebanese army to break the deadlock regarding the Ali Al-Taher Ridge.”
The official added that Lebanon had received no Israeli responses on other outstanding issues.
Gen. Joseph Clearfield, head of the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon (MCG4L), is overseeing work on the verification mechanism, border demarcation and the prisoner-exchange file, the source said.
“Unless he (Clearfield) obtains guarantees of achieving reliable results, the Lebanese and Israeli delegations will not sit at the direct negotiation table under American auspices,” the official said, adding that “such guarantees are not yet available.”
US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, speaking after meeting Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian, said Washington was “awaiting developments regarding the Ali Al-Taher Ridge in the coming days.”
Issa described the Rome talks as technical-level discussions that “do not necessarily require a predetermined timetable.
“If anything emerges that demands our involvement or fine-tuning, we will intervene and rectify,” he said. “When it comes to sovereignty matters, we verify them beforehand and possess precise information, so we can coordinate dates to prevent them from clashing.”
Issa said experimental areas were advancing, “but everything that is set down on paper takes time to be implemented on the ground.”
“Once the delineation of the experimental area is completed, we can see how matters have been facilitated, and this will accelerate work on the third and fourth experimental areas,” Issa said.
He added that Clearfield was coordinating between the Lebanese, Israeli and US governments to monitor progress.
“Israeli attacks have not ceased. The reason behind these attacks is Hezbollah, which continually maintains that it will retain its arms so long as Israel persists in its actions,” Issa said.
“You demand that Israel pull out of southern Lebanon while Hezbollah refuses to commit to surrendering its weapons to the Lebanese army, and the party is unwilling to take any step. So, how can you possibly ask Israel to withdraw from Lebanon?”
On the question of negotiating with Hezbollah, Issa said: “We have never said we would not negotiate with the party. This is possible if the party is ready to negotiate or has anything to offer. However, if negotiations consist of ‘visits and coffee,’ things are not going well.”
Escalation on the ground
On Wednesday, Israeli forces intensified destruction in border villages and towns, planting large quantities of explosives to booby-trap neighborhoods and destroy infrastructure, as well as historical and religious sites, according to Lebanese reports.
Heavy shelling continued on the Ali Al-Taher Ridge, which Israel says contains Hezbollah military facilities.
Israel airstrikes targeted Al-Mansouri, Wadi Saluki, the area between Wadi Saluki and the town of Shaqra, Sarbine and Markaba, as well as Khiam, Dawhet Kfar Roummane, the areas between Qantara and Deir Seryan, Nabatieh Al-Fawqa, and the vicinity of Taybeh and Deir Seryan, around the north and south of the Litani River.
US-backed talks have so far failed to secure the handover of the Ali Al-Taher Ridge to the Lebanese army, as Hezbollah publicly refuses to surrender its weapons north of the Litani.
Security Council session and UNIFIL future
Lebanon is awaiting the Security Council’s session on Friday to discuss arrangements for the next phase in southern Lebanon and the future role of international forces, as the deadline to the end of the UNIFIL mandate approaches.
The Lebanese official said “so far, no plan B” had been devised for the continued presence of foreign forces under a framework different from UNIFIL.
“Such a plan has yet to take shape as it lacks a framework to protect these forces, whose governments would have to agree to their deployment in Lebanon,” the source said. “The participation of any foreign forces requires assurances from Israel that they will not be targeted.”
The source warned that the absence of an alternative to UNIFIL in southern Lebanon, which prevents a security vacuum, would place Lebanon in direct confrontation with the Israeli army.
“UNIFIL’s withdrawal from the south will leave the country without international protection against Israeli attacks and without the capacity to monitor and document them.”
Lebanon is racing against time to find an alternative, as UNIFIL will stop carrying out oversight or monitoring tasks by the end of the year. Its sole mission will then become withdrawing its forces from the area of deployment south of the Litani River until the end of 2027, the source added.
“It is early to discuss a list of countries that support participating in a new force in the south, as long as the legal and political framework of the mission has not yet been finalized,” the official added.
