BEIRUT — Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confirmed on Monday that former Ambassador Simon Karam, who took part in civilian-led talks with Israel last year, will lead the Lebanese delegation for negotiations with Israel.
What happened: As growing security concerns threaten a fragile ceasefire, Beirut is working to advance the talks despite gridlock in the Iranian negotiations with the United States. Israeli media outlets reported on Monday that Lebanon’s ambassador in Washington, Nada Hamadeh, and her Israeli counterpart, Yechiel Leiter, are due to meet for a second time on Thursday.
“The goal of the negotiation track is to stop the hostilities, end the Israeli occupation of southern areas and deploy the army to the internationally recognized southern border,” Aoun stressed during a meeting with a group of politicians at the presidential palace in Baabda.
He said that no other party will participate in those negotiations. much less replace Lebanon. “The upcoming negotiations are separate from any other negotiations,” he added in an apparent reference to US-Iran talks aimed at consolidating a 45-day ceasefire between the two sides.
Lebanon, he continued, faces two choices: the continuation of the war and its devastating repercussions, or the start of negotiations to achieve sustainable stability.
“I have chosen negotiation, and I am hopeful that we will be able to save Lebanon,” he said.
Karam, who served as Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington from 1992 to 1993, participated in a round of civilian-led talks between the Lebanese and Israeli sides in the southern city of Naqoura last December. The talks, the first held on a civilian level since 1991, came under the framework of the November 2024 ceasefire agreement.
Background: Aoun’s statements came as a 10-day ceasefire announced last week largely held despite ongoing Israeli activities in south Lebanon.
The ceasefire, which ended 45 days of fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, was announced last Thursday by US President Donald Trump following a phone call with Aoun.
“During our call, President Trump expressed full understanding and responsiveness to Lebanon’s request and intervened with Israel to halt the fighting and prepare for the launch of a negotiation process that will end the abnormal situation and restore the authority and sovereignty of the Lebanese state over all its territory, especially the south,” Aoun said in his Monday remarks.
He added that communication with Trump will continue to maintain the ceasefire and begin negotiations, which must enjoy the support of all national forces to achieve its objectives.
Local MTV news reported on Monday that preparations are being made for a meeting between Aoun and Trump. On Friday, Al-Arabiya’s Nadia Bilbassy reported that the two leaders are expected to hold a second phone call on Thursday.
According to MTV, Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington is working with the Trump administration to determine the next steps, in coordination with US Ambassador to Lebanon Michael Issa.
Why it matters: Last Tuesday, Hamadeh and Israel’s Leiter met for talks at the State Department in Washington to lay the groundwork for direct negotiations. It was the first direct exchange between the two governments in decades.
Aoun and his government have insisted that the Lebanese state will be solely in charge of negotiations with Israel to end the hostilities as Lebanon works to curb Iran’s influence in the country, exerted through Hezbollah.
The Lebanese president has repeatedly condemned Hezbollah for its initial attack against Israel on March 2, which triggered the widespread Israeli escalation. In response, the government announced a ban on the group’s military and security activities and withdrew the accreditation of Iran’s ambassador to Beirut.
The war has killed at least 2,294 people in Lebanon, while more than 7,544 have been injured, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. In Israel, 12 soldiers and two civilians have been killed in Hezbollah’s attacks.
Know more: The ceasefire appeared to teeter over the weekend after a series of security incidents in south Lebanon. The state-run news agency NNA reported Monday that several villages had come under artillery fire just two days after the Israeli military announced the establishment of a “yellow line” in the south, similar to the one in Gaza separating areas held by Israeli forces from those controlled by Hamas.
On Saturday, the military said it launched air and ground attacks at “terrorists” who approached Israeli forces from north of the line.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility on Monday for explosions that destroyed four Israeli Merkava tanks over the weekend. The Israeli military announced the death of two soldiers and the injury of 12 others in two separate explosions caused by devices planted by Hezbollah in the area.
Israel’s systematic destruction of homes along the border is raising fear of a possible prolonged presence by Israeli forces in south Lebanon, according to the NNA. On Monday, the Israeli military warned Lebanese residents not to return to about 80 villages in southern Lebanon, saying that its forces are still deployed in the area due to what it described as the “ongoing terrorist activities by the Hezbollah organization.”
Thousands of displaced residents had begun returning to parts of southern Lebanon since the truce took effect on Friday.