If the Lebanese state manages to negotiate a halt to the strikes and a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army, it will have the upper hand over Hezbollah, according to a journalist living in Lebanon.

A second round of talks between Israel and Lebanon opens on Thursday in Washington. Despite the official ceasefire in effect since April 17 between Israel and Hezbollah, the Israeli army “blows up entire neighborhoods of all villages it controls,” explains Gabriel Blondel, a reporter for the Franco-Lebanese newspaper “L’Orient-Le Jour.”

The discussions opening in Washington on Thursday, April 23, between Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors take place in a highly tense context due to multiple violations of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah announced on April 17, after the first round of negotiations. Lebanon requests an extension of a month for the ceasefire, strict adherence to the ceasefire, and an end to Israel’s destruction operations in South Lebanon. The disarmament of Hezbollah remains a key point in the negotiations, but according to Gabriel Blondel, reporter for the Franco-Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour, the movement “has always found reasons to retain its weapons.”

“Negotiations are the only way to achieve a true de-escalation.”

Gabriel Blondel, reporter for the Franco-Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le-Jour

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This de-escalation could mark the end of Israeli operations in South Lebanon?

Initially, it is at least the cessation of strikes and demolition operations that, in practice, continue at an even higher rate. Israel carries out blasting operations, destroying entire neighborhoods of all villages it controls along the buffer zone Tel Aviv is trying to de facto impose on South Lebanon to continue its strikes against Hezbollah members. These operations lead to tragedies, such as the death of journalist Amal Khalil on Wednesday, who was reporting in South Lebanon. The whole country followed this tragedy on television. There was undoubtedly a targeting, as has already been the case with another team of journalists. It must be emphasized that regardless of the media’s editorial line, journalists should never be military targets.

Is Hezbollah’s disarmament a divisive issue in Lebanese society?

Of course, it is the main point of division. Despite the unilateral withdrawal of the Israeli army from South Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah has always wanted to retain its weapons, always finding reasons to do so. In the current situation, where the Israeli army occupies a strip of land 5 to 10 kilometers wide, it is hard to see how Hezbollah could once again agree to address the issue of disarmament. This is the logic of intimidation and verbal escalation that it has been deploying against the Lebanese state in recent days, issuing thinly veiled threats against the government, especially against Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

“Hezbollah is in a logic of intimidation and verbal escalation against the Lebanese state.”

Gabriel Blondel, reporter for the Franco-Lebanese newspaper “L’Orient-Le-Jour”

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Hezbollah’s disarmament is demanded by Israel and the United States. In the context you describe, what can the Lebanese government do?

This disarmament can only be achieved through a consensus among Lebanese. And for that, the state, currently embodied by President Joseph Aoun, must be strengthened. The diplomacy of France and other countries seeks to strengthen the Lebanese army and the state’s posture to give substance to its political action. If the Lebanese state manages to negotiate a halt to strikes by Israel and a gradual withdrawal of its army, it will gain the upper hand over Hezbollah. This will allow it to counter the argument that it must remain armed because the Lebanese are weak, that negotiation leads to nothing, and that the only option is to remain in this perpetual, suicidal confrontation with Israel.