Lebanese President Joseph Aoun discussed ceasefire efforts in his country with Vice President JD Vance in a phone call on Monday.
Lebanon is hoping to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed terrorists of Hezbollah, while Iran seeks to protect its Lebanese proxy by linking the conflict to U.S.-Iran peace talks.
According to Aoun’s office, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani also participated in the call. Qatar and Pakistan have been acting as mediators between the United States and Iran.
The Lebanese presidential office said Vance initiated the call and spoke with Aoun at length about “consolidating the ceasefire in Lebanon, stopping the Israeli military escalation, and steps that should be taken in this regard, including the possibility of forming a cell for this purpose.”
On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi praised the “tireless” efforts of Pakistani and Qatari mediators to “end the Lebanon war.” He said the “first real test” of their achievements would be the creation of a “Lebanon deconfliction cell,” which would “ensure the end of military operations in Lebanon is upheld, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding.”
Lebanon’s L’Orient Today noted that “no information has yet been released about how this new mechanism would work,” but previous deconfliction cells have been multi-national agreements intended to reduce tensions by keeping lines of communications open among all parties, and coordinating military movements to avoid accidental or spontaneous outbreaks of hostility.
Iran’s state-run Mehr news agency reported on Monday that Iran has “become part of the security equation in Lebanon,” and will send a representative to participate in the deconfliction cell – but Israel will not have such representation.
“Israel will not be part of the mechanism,” Mehr reported, adding that Iran “will not continue negotiations” with the United States unless the conflict in Lebanon is resolved to its satisfaction.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Monday that suggested the “deconfliction cell” would include “the parties” – meaning the U.S. and Iran – plus the Lebanese Republic and the mediators, Pakistan and Qatar. Israel was not involved in the talks held in Switzerland over the weekend.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will remain in Lebanon, and will be free to respond to any attacks against themselves or Israeli civilians.
“My directive and that of the Minister of Defense to the IDF is clear and has not changed. Our fighters in southern Lebanon have full freedom of action to thwart any direct or emerging threat to them or to the residents of the North,” he said.
“The IDF has no restrictions in this regard. I stand behind them; the entire nation stands behind them,” he declared.
“I stand firm that we will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon as long as necessary to protect the residents of the North and all citizens of the country,” Netanyahu insisted.
Aoun said on Monday that he welcomed “any assistance to end the war,” but said his government makes a distinction between “assistance and interference in internal affairs, because we are a sovereign country, and no one negotiates on our behalf.”
Aoun said he and Vance discussed “the issue of consolidating the ceasefire in Lebanon, halting the Israeli military escalation, and the steps that should be taken in this regard, including the possibility of establishing a cell for this purpose.”
Lebanese officials told The National on Monday that the deconfliction cell mechanism would solidify Iran’s influence in Lebanon, making Tehran “part of Lebanon’s security equation, with formal American acknowledgement.”
A source in Beirut said negotiations between the United States and Iran over the weekend made it “very hard to separate the Lebanese file from the Iranian one.”
“The ceiling of Israeli demands is gradually coming down. If things continue to evolve in this direction, an immediate Israeli withdrawal could even become part of a future agreement with Iran,” an unnamed Western diplomat said.
“The story is not over, but Israel’s maximalist position appears to be steadily shrinking,” the diplomat said.
Read the full article here