Lebanon-Israel War | 2023-present

Lebanon’s Return to Its People

Yusuf-Aldayni.png

Yousef Al-Dayni Tuesday - 30 June 2026

The situation in Lebanon cannot be reduced to the existence of a state within the state, Hezbollah's weapons, and its discourse hostile to the logic of the state. It extends to legitimizing Lebanon’s oscillation between being subordinate to Iran and being transformed into an inherent element of the Iranian body politic, and silence over Israel's violation of its southern borders, as though Lebanese territories were a field for deterrence under the pretext of Israel's security.

Despite the catastrophic condition in Lebanon, the deeper threat goes beyond security and the economy: living with the damage that has afflicted it for decades by treating Hezbollah as a subordinate of Iran or a representative of Lebanon that may be targeted, and by turning this damage into a "fait accompli" that must be managed. Here, the most basic idea is meant to die: Lebanon is a sovereign state, not an experimental arena for the projects of others.

The story of the settlement with Iran - into which Lebanon is being forced by reducing it to Hezbollah - must not be lost amid the crush of deadlines. Any new American-Iranian understanding should not be read only through the window of the nuclear program, or sanctions and the security of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. More dangerously, the agreement could constitute implicit recognition of Iran's right to operate proxies in sovereign Arab countries under the pretext of the unity of arenas. Meanwhile, the Iranian crisis has revealed that the Middle East is one arena whose struggles are inseparable from the chaos of interference in sovereign states, and from Israeli arrogance as well.

Including Lebanon in any agreement through Hezbollah is dangerous for the region. It cannot be legitimized no matter how powerful the urge to escape it may be. This means turning Beirut, and perhaps other capitals later, into Iranian bargaining ships. Sovereign states will thereby lose the ability to make decisions of war and their monopoly on violence, two of the most important pillars of the modern concept of the state. This negotiating shortcut is troubling, not merely as conduct, but even as political language, because it is asking to Iran to provide guarantees regarding Hezbollah's behavior instead of ending its subordination.

Lebanon’s fragility allowed Iran and Israel to turn it into a proxy battlefield. This fragility did not begin on October 7, 2023; it goes back to the Cairo Agreement of 1969, which legitimized the Palestine Liberation Organization's violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and opened the gates to the chaos of arms outside state control. When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 to expel the PLO, a more complex and more deeply embedded Iranian proxy in Lebanon was born.

Since the 1982 invasion, then the 2006 war, and up to the escalation after October 7, belligerence and attempts to erase these entities have proved unrealistic. It is true that Israel can limit Hezbollah's arsenal, eliminate its leaders, and strike its military structures. It cannot, however, reclaim Lebanon or build the state. Indeed, excessive and futile strikes are a kiss of life to the party's narrative.

The paradox is that speaking of the arms as part of the Iranian body is an illogical shift after the functional failure of these entities. Tehran long bet that Hezbollah, the Iraqi militias, the Houthis, and Hamas were its forward lines of defense. But the recent wars proved that those arms are no longer capable of producing deterrence as Tehran had imagined it. Hamas emerged exhausted, Hezbollah received painful blows that reached its most important leaders, and the remaining arms hovered at the margins and limits of the desire to survive.

What remained was the real damage that states continue to endure to this day: these entities replaced the function of deterrence with the aggravation of domestic crises and the obstruction of the state. This explains Hezbollah's ability to stand as a stumbling block all these years in the project of restoring the Lebanese state.

The realist political discourse effectively calls for mortgaging Lebanon, in all its diversity and capacities, to remain captive between Iranian subjugation and Israeli arrogance. Any negotiation that consolidates this state of affairs would have consequences for the region. It is very true that disarming Hezbollah will be extremely arduous. However, the difficulty of the task does not justify surrender, nor becoming preoccupied with the symptoms of an incurable disease on the pretext that there is no cure.

It is not enough to demand that Iran and Israel leave Lebanon alone or respect its sovereignty. More importantly, Lebanon must stop being part of Tehran's sphere of influence in the Iranian agenda, and it must stop being an explosive buffer zone in the Israeli agenda.

With the fragile agreement, war and its tragedies are no longer the most dangerous challenges of the day after; it would be even more dangerous for the world to normalize these political deformities that violate the sovereignty of states and gamble with the destinies of people and countries.
Is it or most people here don’t read your articles you could easily post a link with a short statement regarding your propaganda pieces
 
I have obtained the Security Annex that Lebanon and Israel signed alongside the Framework Agreement after four days of negotiations.

SECURITY ANNEX The below constitutes the confidential Security Annex to the Trilateral Framework.

1. Pilot Zones Designation: The parties will immediately designate and launch the initial pilot zone in the South Litani Sector in an agreed upon military planning process using a four-step model: 1) Clearance, taking legal measures against all non-state armed personnel engaging in unauthorized activity, and destroy or render inoperable associated infrastructure, including but not limited to weapons, weapons caches, tunnels, and command centers, by those non-state armed groups. 2) Verification of clearance of all non-state armed groups and their military infrastructure by a mutually agreed-upon third-party entity. 3) Presence of highly-qualified Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) that assume and maintain sole operational control, to prevent any resurgence of non-state armed activity. 4) The Lebanese state leads reconstruction efforts, supported by international assistance and coordinated through the political track.

2. Implementation and Verification: The LAF will lead the implementation of this model with success measured by verifiable implementation of the disarmament and dismantlement process to be agreed upon within this negotiation framework. Israel and Lebanon will establish the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon (MCG4L), tasked with the mission to operate 24/7, managing deconfliction, verification, and overall implementation. This cell will report to the respective political authorities of Israel and Lebanon via indirect military-to-military channels between Israel and Lebanon. Ongoing verification will occur simultaneously with clearing operations.

3. Security Commitments: The LAF commits to take necessary operational measures to ensure the disarmament of Hizballah and all other non-state armed groups, and that they have no military role or capability within Lebanon.

4. Sequenced Redeployment: Pending successful completion of an agreed upon and verifiable disarmament and dismantlement process, Israel commits to a phased, conditions-based, progressive reduction and eventual redeployment of its forces from Lebanese territory, planned and sequenced through the MCG4L, to coincide with LAF deployment.

5. Desired Outcome: As part of the broader effort relating to the disarmament and dismantlement of all non-state armed groups as mutually agreed upon within this negotiation framework, restore full Lebanese state authority throughout Lebanon and ensure the long-term security of Israel.

6. Oversight and Dispute Resolution: The parties, with U.S. facilitation, will conduct periodic reviews of the implementation and may amend this Annex by mutual agreement. Any disputes regarding its interpretation or execution will be resolved through trilateral discussions.
 
I have obtained the Security Annex that Lebanon and Israel signed alongside the Framework Agreement after four days of negotiations.

SECURITY ANNEX The below constitutes the confidential Security Annex to the Trilateral Framework.

1. Pilot Zones Designation: The parties will immediately designate and launch the initial pilot zone in the South Litani Sector in an agreed upon military planning process using a four-step model: 1) Clearance, taking legal measures against all non-state armed personnel engaging in unauthorized activity, and destroy or render inoperable associated infrastructure, including but not limited to weapons, weapons caches, tunnels, and command centers, by those non-state armed groups. 2) Verification of clearance of all non-state armed groups and their military infrastructure by a mutually agreed-upon third-party entity. 3) Presence of highly-qualified Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) that assume and maintain sole operational control, to prevent any resurgence of non-state armed activity. 4) The Lebanese state leads reconstruction efforts, supported by international assistance and coordinated through the political track.

2. Implementation and Verification: The LAF will lead the implementation of this model with success measured by verifiable implementation of the disarmament and dismantlement process to be agreed upon within this negotiation framework. Israel and Lebanon will establish the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon (MCG4L), tasked with the mission to operate 24/7, managing deconfliction, verification, and overall implementation. This cell will report to the respective political authorities of Israel and Lebanon via indirect military-to-military channels between Israel and Lebanon. Ongoing verification will occur simultaneously with clearing operations.

3. Security Commitments: The LAF commits to take necessary operational measures to ensure the disarmament of Hizballah and all other non-state armed groups, and that they have no military role or capability within Lebanon.

4. Sequenced Redeployment: Pending successful completion of an agreed upon and verifiable disarmament and dismantlement process, Israel commits to a phased, conditions-based, progressive reduction and eventual redeployment of its forces from Lebanese territory, planned and sequenced through the MCG4L, to coincide with LAF deployment.

5. Desired Outcome: As part of the broader effort relating to the disarmament and dismantlement of all non-state armed groups as mutually agreed upon within this negotiation framework, restore full Lebanese state authority throughout Lebanon and ensure the long-term security of Israel.

6. Oversight and Dispute Resolution: The parties, with U.S. facilitation, will conduct periodic reviews of the implementation and may amend this Annex by mutual agreement. Any disputes regarding its interpretation or execution will be resolved through trilateral discussions.
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meanwhile, Israel says it will never leave Lebanon even if Hezbollah is disarmed
 
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Israel unveils latest technology to defeat drones..
 
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Hezbollah's Lebanese Allies Are Ready to Dump It

By Hussain Abdul-Hussain

Mon 6 Jul 2026 · 9:57Last updated on Mon 6 Jul 2026 · 10:07 Washington, USA

Speaker Nabih Berri and Druze chief Walid Jumblatt have so far sided with Hezbollah by denouncing the June 26 Trilateral Framework between Lebanon, Israel, and the U.S.

Speaker Nabih Berri and Druze chief Walid Jumblatt have so far sided with Hezbollah by denouncing the June 26 Trilateral Framework between Lebanon, Israel, and the U.S. Yet despite their rhetoric, neither has moved to unseat Lebanon's government, citing concerns over sectarian tensions. The gap between their words and actions suggests both are hedging their bets, uncertain whether Hezbollah will survive its confrontation with Israel.

Berri and Jumblatt are among Lebanon's most enduring political survivors, with nearly a century of public life between them. Their political choices have always tracked the prevailing balances of power in Lebanon. They backed Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) when it dominated parts of Lebanon, only to abandon him after Israel’s 1982 invasion. Afterward, the two aligned with Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad's regime in Damascus until the 2005 Cedar Revolution forced Syria out of Lebanon. They then seamlessly shifted their allegiance to Hezbollah.

Berri and Jumblatt’s political antennas must now be tuned to the existential crisis faced by Hezbollah. The militia is exhausted and outmatched by a determined Israel. Under Naim Qassem’s lackluster leadership, it no longer projects the strength that once defined its dominance in Lebanon. Jumblatt himself has noted that Iran dispatched senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) operatives to prop up Hezbollah.

The balance of power has shifted decisively against the group, opening a rare opportunity for the Lebanese state. President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have recognized these vulnerabilities and are moving assertively to reassert state authority over security and decision-making. Berri and Jumblatt recognize the same shift but remain cautious. They prefer to let events unfold rather than risk a premature rupture that could backfire.

Hezbollah has never been in a weaker position. Israeli operations have devastated southern Lebanon, flattening more than sixty villages. Roughly nine percent of Lebanese territory—concentrated in Shia areas—remains under Israeli control. Hezbollah’s arsenal was designed to prevent such an outcome or impose unacceptable costs on any occupier. Instead, Iran’s decision to extend the ceasefire to Lebanon without demanding a full Israeli withdrawal has drained those weapons of strategic value and exposed their limits.

In this war, Lebanon’s Shia have endured the longest period of mass displacement in their modern history. Families now live in tents with no clear timeline for return. The only realistic path home runs through Hezbollah surrendering its arsenal.

For years, Hezbollah’s weapons gave the Shia a sense of empowerment and political leverage against other Lebanese communities. Once politically unpopular, disarmament has gained traction as prolonged conflict exposed the failure of these weapons. The political costs of maintaining Hezbollah’s weapons have become unsustainable. Even Berri and Jumblatt now appear to be waiting for the party’s collapse, albeit quietly.
Hezbollah offers no fresh strategy, instead recycling old tactics. In the aftermath of the 2006 war, late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah admitted the group had nearly exhausted its ammunition in the final days, yet still bluffed Israel into believing it could continue fighting. Today, the militia relies on similar deception, reinforced by relentless propaganda and disinformation campaigns. It also places its hopes in Iran outmaneuvering the U.S.

Iran has turned the threat to close the Strait of Hormuz into leverage, securing relief from U.S. naval pressure in the Gulf and a ceasefire that extended to Lebanon. The maneuver bought time but produced no decisive shift in Lebanon’s balance of power, as Tehran prioritized its own direct interests. Hezbollah now awaits a broader U.S.-Iran settlement that could include concessions restoring its position in Lebanon. Berri and Jumblatt’s reluctance to fully embrace the Lebanese-Israeli agreement reflects fears that Washington could still prioritize a deal with Tehran over Lebanese sovereignty.

With Hezbollah in terminal decline, the last thing Washington should do is extend the militia a lifeline in a bargain with Tehran. Prioritizing Gulf security concerns over Lebanon’s prosperity would be a major strategic miscalculation. Any such move would prolong Lebanon’s political paralysis and risk renewed cycles of conflict across the region.
 

Aoun urges Trump to keep backing Lebanon to 'turn the page on wars'

by Naharnet Newsdesk 2 days ago

W460



On the occasion of America's 250th Independence Day, President Joseph Aoun sent a congratulatory telegram to U.S. President Donald Trump, wishing him and the American people "continued success, prosperity, and further progress."

In his telegram, Aoun stated: "There is no doubt that the relationship between Lebanon and the United States of America is ancient and deeply rooted, as old as the human and social principles and values that have united their visions."

"Today, this relationship is being revitalized thanks to your determination and tireless efforts to restore stability and security to the Middle East in general, and to Lebanon in particular," the president said.

"While we appreciate your efforts in this regard, we call upon you to continue your unwavering support for Lebanon's just and righteous causes, and for its institutions, army, and people, so that we may turn the page on wars, tragedies, and suffering, and open a new chapter of hope, peace and stability," Aoun went on to say.
 

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