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Lebanon-Israel framework agreement faces hurdles, Hezbollah warns of strife
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia /Conflict & Security

Lebanon-Israel framework agreement faces hurdles, Hezbollah warns of strife

From Asharq Al-Awsat · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Lebanon and Israel signed a US-sponsored framework agreement aimed at ending hostilities, but its implementation faces challenges.
  • The agreement's success hinges on Hezbollah's disarmament and Iran's backing, with Israel stating troops will remain until Hezbollah is disarmed.
  • Hezbollah has condemned the agreement as a "grave blunder" and warned of potential internal strife, while some Lebanese citizens view it as a "humiliation."

Lebanon and Israel have signed a US-sponsored framework agreement intended to end hostilities, but experts caution that it does not guarantee Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. The agreement's effectiveness is largely dependent on the disarmament of Hezbollah and the continued support of Iran, Hezbollah's primary backer.

no guarantee that Israel will fully withdraw from occupied areas or significantly restrict its military operations in southern Lebanon

— Imad SalameyCommenting on the shortcomings of the framework agreement.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately set a firm tone, stating that Israeli soldiers would remain in the self-declared "security zone" along the border "as long as Hezbollah has not disarmed." Imad Salamey, head of Political and International Studies at the Lebanese American University, noted that the agreement lacks firm commitments for a full Israeli withdrawal or significant restriction of military operations in southern Lebanon. This uncertainty leaves many residents in the south facing continued insecurity and delayed reconstruction efforts.

legitimizing" Israeli occupation, urging the government to withdraw from it.

— Naim QassemDescribing Hezbollah's view of the framework agreement.

Netanyahu also indicated that displaced Lebanese civilians would not be permitted to return to occupied areas. The agreement outlines "pilot zones" where the Lebanese military would assume control post-Israeli "redeployment." While two initial zones have been agreed upon, future zones require mutual consent. Crucially, the Lebanese army's full security responsibility in these zones is contingent upon external confirmation that non-state armed groups, particularly Hezbollah, have been disarmed.

unless they go, with American support, to civil war" inside Lebanon

— Hassan FadlallahStating the conditions under which Hezbollah believes the government could implement the agreement.

Hezbollah has vehemently opposed the agreement since direct talks were announced in April, branding the move a "sin." Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah suggested the Lebanese government could only implement the agreement with American support by initiating a "civil war" within Lebanon. The group's leader Naim Qassem called the framework a "grave blunder" that legitimizes Israeli occupation. Protests against the agreement occurred in Beirut, with one participant calling it an "agreement of humiliation and shame."

an agreement of humiliation and shame

— Ahmad ShamasA taxi driver's reaction to the framework agreement.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Asharq Al-Awsat in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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