Jerusalem, Indefinite. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this Thursday that he had ordered his cabinet to undertake “direct negotiations” with Lebanon “without delay”, mainly on the disarmament of the pro-Iranian Islamist movement Hezbollah.
“Following Lebanon’s repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday (Wednesday) to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon without delay,” Netanyahu said, quoted by his office.
“The negotiations will address the disarmament of Hezbollah and the establishment of peace relations between Israel and Lebanon,” he added.
Wednesday’s bombings in Lebanon, which killed more than 300 peoplereveal Israel’s “non-compliance with commitments,” which “makes the negotiations meaningless,” Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian considered on Thursday.
“Our fingers remain on the trigger, Iran will never abandon its Lebanese brothers and sisters,” the president added in X, on the eve of the talks scheduled for this weekend between Washington and Tehran, mediated by Pakistan.
The president of the Iranian Parliament, Mohamad Baqer Qalibaf, stated for his part that “Lebanon and the entire Axis of Resistance, as allies of Iran, are an inseparable part of the ceasefire” concluded with the United States with the mediation of Pakistan.
Any “violation of the ceasefire” will have “a firm response,” he warned in X.
Since the two-week provisional ceasefire was agreed on Tuesday, Tehran and Washington have offered conflicting accounts of whether or not Lebanon is included in that pact.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that his country will attack the pro-Iranian Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah “where necessary.”
But Lebanon, which on March 9 had already offered to talk, “wants a ceasefire before starting any negotiations,” a senior official close to the exchanges told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
On Wednesday night, US Vice President JD Vance denied the inclusion of Lebanon in the ceasefire. “We never made that promise,” he declared.
Iranian authorities insist that the Lebanese conflict is included in the agreement, and cite as evidence the position expressed by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the announcement of the truce.
“I am pleased to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, together with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere, including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY,” the leader posted on the X social network.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Thursday asked his Pakistani counterpart to “confirm that the ceasefire includes Lebanon to avoid a repeat of the Israeli attacks we witnessed yesterday,” according to his office.
The Lebanese president had proposed organizing these negotiations a week after his country was dragged into the conflict by Hezbollah’s rocket fire against Israel, which responded with massive bombings.
However, Ali Fayyad, a Hezbollah deputy, reiterated his group’s “rejection” of such negotiations.
In any case, Netanyahu had previously warned that the bombings against the Shiite formation would continue to restore the “security of the inhabitants of the north” of Israel, bordering Lebanon.
This Thursday, at least five people were killed in Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah reported direct fighting with Israeli forces.
And in the south of Beirut, an area considered a stronghold of the pro-Iran movement, the Israeli army called for evacuations due to the possibility of bombings.
In Pakistan, whose government is mediating the war, the truce applies “everywhere, including Lebanon,” but Israel and Washington deny this.
