In a speech to the nation, President Joseph Aoun stated that his country did not want to be “the center of anyone’s wars.”
Negotiations continue between Israel and Lebanon. The president affirmed that the country is working towards “a permanent agreement” with Israel after the ceasefire that came into effect on Friday, April 17. “We are in a new phase,” declared Joseph Aoun in his first speech to the nation since the truce, mentioning “a transition phase (…) to work towards a permanent agreement that safeguards the rights of our people, the unity of our country, and the sovereignty of our nation.”
These direct talks, while Lebanon has been in a state of war with Israel since 1948, are “not a sign of weakness or a concession,” emphasized the head of state, promising not to “cede an inch of national territory.” “We are confident that we will save Lebanon, we have regained Lebanon and Lebanon’s decision-making power for the first time in nearly half a century,” Joseph Aoun further stated, adding that “today, we negotiate for ourselves, we are no longer a pawn in anyone’s game, nor the center of anyone’s wars, and we will never be again.”
Lebanon was plunged into regional war when the Hezbollah, an Islamist movement financed and supported by Tehran, attacked Israel on March 2 in retaliation for the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the Israeli-American offensive against Iran.
In his speech, the Lebanese president thanked “everyone who contributed to the realization of the ceasefire, starting with my friend, President Donald Trump,” as well as Saudi Arabia.
Since Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam took office last year, Beirut has made several unprecedented decisions against Hezbollah, including a commitment to disarm the Shiite movement, after a ceasefire reached in November 2024 to end a previous conflict with Israel.
The government also banned Hezbollah’s military activities, the only group to retain its weapons after the civil war of 1975-1990 in the name of “resistance” against Israel, despite the latter’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. In a country rife with profound sectarian and political divisions, the arsenal of the pro-Iranian movement has repeatedly sparked internal crises.
