To Blunt Iran Roadblocks to Negotiations, Netanyahu Announces Unprecedented Direct Talks With Lebanon

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, attempting to change the Islamic Republic’s narrative that talks with America are conditioned on ending attacks on Hezbollah, is announcing direct negotiations between the governments of Israel and Lebanon.The unprecedented talks follow Israel’s largest bombardment of Hezbollah targets across Lebanon since the start of the war. The Israeli operation on Wednesday, dubbed “Eternal Darkness,” deepened sectarian divisions inside Lebanon, where Hezbollah opponents call to disarm the Iranian-backed terror group.The Beirut rumor mill was abuzz with stories that Hezbollah was planning a coup d’état to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Naif Salam this week.“The first thing I thought of when I started seeing the news that a ceasefire between America and Iran was kicking in, was that if Lebanon is included, then Hezbollah will make a move on the government,” a Lebanese-born author of a new book, “The Arab Case for Israel,” Hussain Abdul-Hussain, tells the Sun. Now that Beirut has broken a Lebanese taboo on talking to Jeruslaem, will Hezbollah amp-up its assault on the Beirut Government? “If the war doesn’t stop, it’ll be hard for them to do so,” Mr. Abdul-Hussain says. The Israeli operation on Wednesday targeted hundreds of top and midlevel Hezbollah operatives. It raised an international outcry. Demands grew on Washington to lean on Mr. Netanyahu to end the assault.President Emmanuel Macron of France led a global movement to side with Iran’s demand that a Lebanon ceasefire will be attached to negotiations between America and Iran. President Trump, though, insists that the war in Lebanon is a “separate skirmish” from the war in Iran. Islamic Republic officials announced they would not open the Strait of Hormuz or join the Friday talks at Islamabad unless Israel ends attacks on the Iranian proxy. Pakistan, which claims to be an honest broker in the talks, is siding with Tehran.“I don’t know why this subsequent confusion arose, because it was clearly there in the statement,” Islamabad’s ambassador to the United Nations, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, told the Sun Thursday. He referred to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s claim on Monday that the agreement included Lebanon. Mr. Trump, who posted the news on his TruthSocial an hour earlier, made no reference to Lebanon. Vice President Vance also delinked the two topics. At the same time, though, he said Thursday that the Israelis offered to “check themselves a little bit in Lebanon, because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful.” The launch of American-chaperoned direct talks between Israel and Lebanon was apparently agreed between Jerusalem and Washington. The Lebanese government, meanwhile, announced in a statement directed at Hezbollah on Thursday that it would make Beirut a weapon-free zone. “In light of Lebanon’s repeated requests to begin direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to open direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible,” Mr. Netanyahu wrote on X. “The negotiations will focus on the disarmament of Hezbollah and the establishment of peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon. Israel appreciates the call made today by the Prime Minister of Lebanon to demilitarize Beirut.”The unprecedented Israeli-Lebanese talks are scheduled to start next week at Washington, presided over by the American ambassador to Beirut, Michel Issa, Axios reports. The Israeli ambassador to America, Yechiel Leiter, will negotiate with his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh-Moawad.The Lebanese premier Mr. Nawaf declared a national day of mourning for the victims of the Israeli attack, which according to Defense Minister Israel Katz of Israel killed more than 200 people. While the operation raised global outrage, some Lebanese praised it as a necessary step in ending Iran’s chokehold on Lebanon through its Hezbollah proxy. “Nothing in war is humane, but if Israel had wanted to annihilate the Shiites in Lebanon, it would not bother giving early warnings,” a Christian Maronite member of the Lebanese parliament, Camille Chamoun, said. ‘We’d see 100,000 casualties instead of 2,000.”Hezbollah’s chief, Naim Qassem, vowed the terror group would never disarm. The Lebanese Armed Forces is unable, or even unwilling, to contest Hezbollah. Yet Mr. Salam increasingly calls to disarm the group, raising the ire of Hezbollah officials.“The first step following the conclusion of this round of hostilities must be a vote of no confidence in the government,” a senior Hezbollah cleric, Sadeq Nablusi, wrote on X Wednesday in what seemed like a call to overthrow the government. Hours later Nablusi was killed in an Israeli strike.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, attempting to change the Islamic Republic’s narrative that talks with America are conditioned on ending attacks on Hezbollah, is announcing direct negotiations between the governments of Israel and Lebanon.The unprecedented talks follow Israel’s largest bombardment of Hezbollah targets across Lebanon since the start of the war. The Israeli operation on Wednesday, dubbed “Eternal Darkness,” deepened sectarian divisions inside Lebanon, where Hezbollah opponents are calling to disarm the Iranian-backed terror group.The Beirut rumor mill was abuzz with stories that Hezbollah was planning a coup d’état to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Naif Salam this week.“The first thing I thought of when I started seeing the news that a ceasefire between America and Iran was kicking in, was that if Lebanon is included, then Hezbollah will make a move on the government,” a Lebanese-born author of a new book, “The Arab Case for Israel,” Hussain Abdul-Hussain, tells the Sun. Now that Beirut has broken a Lebanese taboo on talking to Jerusalem, will Hezbollah amp-up its assault on the Beirut Government? “If the war doesn’t stop, it’ll be hard for them to do so,” Mr. Abdul-Hussain says. The Israeli operation on Wednesday targeted hundreds of top and midlevel Hezbollah operatives. It raised an international outcry. Demands grew on Washington to lean on Mr. Netanyahu to end the assault.President Emmanuel Macron of France led a global movement to side with Iran’s demand that a Lebanon ceasefire will be attached to negotiations between America and Iran. President Trump, though, insists that the war in Lebanon is a “separate skirmish” from the war in Iran. Islamic Republic officials announced they would not open the Strait of Hormuz or join the Friday talks at Islamabad unless Israel ends attacks on the Iranian proxy. Pakistan, which claims to be an honest broker in the talks, is siding with Tehran.“I don’t know why this subsequent confusion arose, because it was clearly there in the statement,” Islamabad’s ambassador to the United Nations, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, told the Sun Thursday. He referred to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s claim on Monday that the agreement included Lebanon. Mr. Trump, who posted the news on his TruthSocial an hour earlier, made no reference to Lebanon. Vice President Vance also delinked the two topics. At the same time, though, he said Thursday that the Israelis offered to “check themselves a little bit in Lebanon, because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful.” The launch of American-chaperoned direct talks between Israel and Lebanon was apparently agreed between Jerusalem and Washington. The Lebanese government, meanwhile, announced in a statement directed at Hezbollah on Thursday that it would make Beirut a weapon-free zone. “In light of Lebanon’s repeated requests to begin direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to open direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible,” Mr. Netanyahu wrote on X. “The negotiations will focus on the disarmament of Hezbollah and the establishment of peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon. Israel appreciates the call made today by the Prime Minister of Lebanon to demilitarize Beirut.”The unprecedented Israeli-Lebanese talks are scheduled to start next week at Washington, presided over by the American ambassador to Beirut, Michel Issa, Axios reports. The Israeli ambassador to America, Yechiel Leiter, will negotiate with his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh-Moawad.The Lebanese premier Mr. Nawaf declared a national day of mourning for the victims of the Israeli attack, which according to Defense Minister Israel Katz of Israel killed more than 200 people. While the operation raised global outrage, some Lebanese praised it as a necessary step in ending Iran’s chokehold on Lebanon through its Hezbollah proxy. “Nothing in war is humane, but if Israel had wanted to annihilate the Shiites in Lebanon, it would not bother giving early warnings,” a Christian Maronite member of the Lebanese parliament, Camille Chamoun, said. ‘We’d see 100,000 casualties instead of 2,000.”Hezbollah’s chief, Naim Qassem, vowed the terror group would never disarm. The Lebanese Armed Forces is unable, or even unwilling, to contest Hezbollah. Yet Mr. Salam increasingly calls to disarm the group, raising the ire of Hezbollah officials.“The first step following the conclusion of this round of hostilities must be a vote of no confidence in the government,” a senior Hezbollah cleric, Sadeq Nablusi, wrote on X Wednesday in what seemed like a call to overthrow the government. Hours later Nablusi was killed in an Israeli strike.

To Blunt Iran Roadblocks to Negotiations, Netanyahu Announces Unprecedented Direct Talks With Lebanon

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