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Representatives from Israel, Lebanon and the United States hold a signing ceremony at the State Department in Washington on June 25 for a trilateral agreement between their countries that will see the Israeli military withdrawing from small parts of southern Lebanon.
In his opening remarks, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the deal “the beginning of the beginning… This first step sometimes is the hardest one, but it’s an important one, and the one we’ve taken together.”
“There’s a lot of work ahead. We don’t in any way underestimate the difficulty of the task ahead, but we understand the importance of it, how vital it is, and we are honored to have played a part in bringing this together,” Rubio added, before going on to tout the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the US, who headed their countries respective negotiating teams in the five rounds of talks that began in April.
Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh said, “the trilateral framework we’re signing today is the first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, securing a permanent and final cessation of hostilities, enabling our people to go back to their land and allowing all Lebanese to live in peace, security and prosperity.”
“This was a long and difficult meeting. We are grateful to the host and to the two delegations for their cooperation during these talks,” she continued
“This milestone was made possible through the leadership of [Lebanese] President [Joseph] Aoun, the tenacity of Prime Minister [Nawaf] Salam, the resilience of Ambassador [Simon] Karam, and the patriotism of Lebanese Armed Forces,” Hamadeh added.
From his side, Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter began his word by thanking Hamadeh by name “for being a very tough negotiator.”
“You and your team set an example for patriotism to your country. You fight like a lioness, madame ambassador,” Leiter said to the Lebanese ambassador.
Leiter recalled how he began this round of talks by warning of an impending “train wreck,” after the U.S. decided to include a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of the memorandum of understanding it reached last week with Iran.
“Iran and its proxies wanted a train wreck,” Leiter said.
“We’ve put the train back on the tracks, and it’s running in the right direction. Final destination: peace between our two countries,” he added. “In this performance-based, trilateral framework agreement, Iran is out, Hezbollah is out, and the road to peace between Israel and Lebanon is in.”
Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues a video statement touting the deal reached with Lebanon. He stressed that the deal will allow Israel to remain in the buffer zone it created in south Lebanon.
“We will maintain (the buffer zone) until Hezbollah disarms and as long as there is a threat to the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.
“This is also a major blow to Iran. Iran is trying to coax us to withdraw from southern Lebanon by force. And in essence, Israel, Lebanon and the United States are telling Iran – it is none of your business. You have no role in Lebanon. Neither you, nor Hezbollah nor any terrorist organization,” he continued.
“We are also allowing the Lebanese army to start preparing to seize territory. We are creating two pilot zones — both recommended by the IDF,” the primer added
“One is south of the Litani River and outside the (original) security zone altogether and and the other is north of the Litani — a small area in the expanded security zone that we conquered in the last two weeks, and which the IDF says it does not need,” he claimed.
“We are maintaining the original security zone, which covers the range of (Hezbollah) anti-tank missiles. We are not allowing Hezbollah, nor the Lebanese population to enter that area. The most important thing is that Israel says: ‘Our security comes first,’” he concluded.
Netanyahu’s office released a separate statement of the framework signed, explaining that it paves the way for future agreements between Israel and Lebanon.
“The IDF’s freedom of military action will be maintained throughout the security zone to eliminate threats of any kind,” Netanyahu’s office said in the statement.
Hebrew media reported that the withdrawal will be limited to two areas that are located beyond the original borders of the so-called buffer zone that was established in southern Lebanon in April. This means that the Israeli military will not be leaving the region any time soon.
Hezbollah has not addressed the deal yet. However, the group’s lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah warned that the Lebanese government would not be able to enforce the deal unless, with U.S. support, “they go to civil war.”
Fadlallah said, according to Al-Mayadeen, that Hezbollah will confront any measure taken by the Lebanese government and will hold on to its weapons even more, adding that the group’s opposition is “serious” and will not allow authorities to implement their commitments on the ground.
All in all, the deal represents a Lebanese acknowledgment of the Israeli occupation in the south, and is generally meant to pressure Hezbollah.
Fadlallah’s latest warning is very much on point. Any attempt to take action against Hezbollah will likely spark a confrontation that could easily escalate into a full-blown civil war in Lebanon. From Israel’s perspective, this may be, however, a best case scenario.
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