President Joseph Aoun pledges a new phase of diplomacy to secure Lebanon’s sovereignty and rights following a fragile truce with Israel.
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun declared on Friday that the country is entering a “new phase” focused on securing “permanent agreements” with Israel.
His address came a day after a US-brokered, 10-day ceasefire halted a devastating conflict with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
“Now, we all stand before a new phase,” Aoun said in his first national speech since the truce began. “It is the phase of transition from working on a ceasefire to working on permanent agreements that preserve the rights of our people, the unity of our land, and the sovereignty of our nation.”
He asserted that Lebanon had reclaimed its decision-making power and was no longer “an arena for anyone’s wars”. The conflict began on March 2 when Hezbollah attacked Israel, avenging the death of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes and ground offensive killed nearly 2,300 people and displaced over a million. Aoun thanked all parties who contributed to the ceasefire, including Saudi Arabia and US President Donald Trump.
Trump later stated he expected Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the White House within days. The truce followed a rare meeting between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in Washington, the first direct diplomatic contact in decades.
Negotiations with Israel remain deeply divisive within Lebanon. Aoun insisted that engaging in talks was “not a sign of weakness nor a concession” and vowed no agreement would infringe on national rights.
“Our goal is clear: to stop the Israeli aggression against our land and our people, to achieve Israeli withdrawal, to extend the authority of the state over all its territory by its own forces exclusively,” he said.
Since taking office last year, Aoun’s government has taken unprecedented steps against Hezbollah. These include a commitment to disarm the group and a ban on its military activities following the latest war.
Hezbollah is the only faction that retained its arms after Lebanon’s civil war, citing resistance to Israel. Its weaponry has been a persistent source of internal crisis in the politically divided nation.
The path to a lasting deal is fraught with historical precedent. A 1983 agreement for Israeli withdrawal was scrapped under Syrian pressure.
More recently, a 2022 maritime border deal was brokered by the US without direct talks. “I hereby affirm… that there will be no agreement that infringes upon our national rights,” Aoun concluded.
