Middle East10 August, 20263 min read
Joseph Aoun Orders Next Stage of Israel-Lebanon Talks After Rome Meetings
“Hezbollah urged the Lebanese government Sunday to halt direct talks with Israel”
“Hezbollah has meanwhile repeatedly rejected the direct talks and refuses to surrender its weapons.”
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Aoun directs Simon Karam to advance the next stage of Lebanon-Israel negotiations. Rome hosted seventh-round talks with U.S.-brokered mediation between Lebanon and Israel.
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Rome talks and directives
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met in Beirut with Simon Karam, the head of the negotiating delegation, after meetings in Rome involving Lebanese, U.S. and Israeli delegations, and the Presidency said Aoun gave “directives for the next stage” of the negotiating process.
The Presidency said the diplomatic movement came after a seventh round of contacts in Rome aimed to end hostilities despite an April ceasefire that “has not managed to completely stop Israel's military actions against its neighbor.”
The same framework under U.S. mediation described in the Demócrata account includes Lebanese Army positioning in several “pilot” areas in the south, with a plan that includes the disarmament of Hezbollah and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.
MTV Lebanon reported that Aoun also received Dalia Khalifa, the World Bank’s Regional Director for the Middle East, and that Aoun stressed Lebanon’s need for support from the World Bank and its partners to address the needs of “more than 600,000 citizens” who had returned amid extensive damage.
In parallel, Naharnet reported that Israel refused in the talks to withdraw from more areas of south Lebanon unless the Lebanese Army achieves full control of an initial two “pilot zones,” and that a U.S. State Department spokesperson told AFP the talks were “productive”.
Hezbollah rejects direct talks
Hezbollah urged Lebanon to halt direct talks with Israel after the Israeli Foreign Ministry published a map depicting large parts of southern Lebanon as Israeli territory, and the Middle East Monitor said Hezbollah argued the map exposed Israeli ambitions over Lebanese land and resources. The Middle East Monitor reported that Hezbollah called for Lebanon to end direct negotiations and lodge an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council, and it also urged Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council to convene an emergency meeting for a unified response to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty, territory and resources. The Jerusalem Post reported that shortly before the Rome talks began, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem denounced both the talks and Joseph Aoun’s role in them, saying the talks would bring “nothing but shame, humiliation, and successive compromises” for Lebanon.
In the same Jerusalem Post account, Qassem said Aoun had “not acted as an arbiter, nor as a unifying figure, but has become biased and divisive,” and the report described Israel and Lebanon negotiations in Rome as “positive” after the latest round. Separately, Arab 48 said Lebanon is considering suspending negotiations or tying their continuation to concrete Israeli field steps and guarantees, while also stating that “rounds cannot continue without tangible results” and that the date of the eighth round had not been decided yet.
Field steps, withdrawal, and risk
Lebanon’s negotiation posture, as described by Arab 48, centers on whether talks can continue without “any on-ground Israeli payoff,” with Lebanese official sources saying Beirut informed the American side that negotiations “cannot continue in this manner and without any on-ground Israeli payoff.” Arab 48 said one main point of contention is arranging steps for withdrawal and disarmament, with Israel insisting it will not withdraw from occupied territories until Hezbollah’s disarmament is verified while Lebanon rejects that equation and demands Israeli forces withdraw first for the Lebanese army to deploy. The same account said the verification of implementation could take place through a dedicated mechanism after agreeing on the entity that will represent it, and it added that the date of the eighth round had not been decided yet while Beirut relies on contacts with Washington to make progress before it is held.
In the Demócrata account, the Lebanese Army’s deployment in the south is framed as part of a plan that includes disarmament of Hezbollah and gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces, but it also states that Israeli troops have continued to carry out attacks in various points in the south. In a separate West Asian report, CNN said no date has been scheduled for a new round of U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon, citing an Israeli official, and the report said the lack of a defined timeline hinders Washington’s efforts to de-escalate tensions along the border.