“It is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy,” Joseph Aoun said.

By JNS

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday ruled out the prospect of normalizing relations with Israel, though he expressed hope for ending the conflict with the Jewish state.

“Peace is the lack of a state of war, and this is what matters to us in Lebanon at the moment. As for the issue of normalization, it is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy,” Aoun said, according to Agence France-Presse.

The comments come after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said last week that Jerusalem is committed to expanding the Abraham Accords and is “interested in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors, to the circle of peace and normalization.”

Syria’s new governing authority has claimed a willingness to work with the United States to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, which created a U.N.-monitored buffer zone separating the two countries.

Thomas J. Barrack Jr., U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, told The New York Times last week that Jerusalem and Damascus were engaged in “meaningful” talks aimed at restoring calm to their shared border.

On Friday, Aoun called on the Israeli military to withdraw from five positions along the Israel-Lebanon frontier. The outposts are located at strategic points, including a hill near Labbouneh, opposite the Israeli town of Shlomi; the Jabal Blat peak, across from Moshav Zar’it; a hill opposite Moshav Avivim and Kibbutz Malkia; another facing Moshav Margaliot; and one near the town of Metula.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said in March that IDF troops would remain at the sites in Southern Lebanon “indefinitely,” despite the launch of talks with Beirut over 13 disputed points along the border.

Aoun claimed on Friday that the Israel Defense Forces presence in Lebanon “obstruct[s]the complete deployment of the [Lebanese] army up to the internationally recognized borders.”

Ceasefire agreement and U.N. Resolution 1701

On Nov. 26, 2024, Jerusalem and Beirut signed a ceasefire deal aimed at ending more than a year of cross-border clashes between the IDF and Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed terror group began attacking the Jewish state in support of Hamas a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

As part of the agreement, both sides acknowledged the significance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War but has never been fully enforced. The resolution calls for the complete demilitarization of Hezbollah south of the Litani River and prohibits the presence of any armed groups in Lebanon other than the official Lebanese Army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Since the truce, Israel has conducted frequent operations to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its terror infrastructure and violating the terms of the truce.

U.S. roadmap for disarmament

U.S. envoy Barrack said on Monday that Hezbollah must see “a future for them” as part of a broader disarmament roadmap delivered to the Lebanese government on behalf of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Hezbollah is a political party. It also has a militant aspect to it,” Barrack told reporters after meeting with Aoun in Beirut, according to AFP. “Hezbollah needs to see that there’s a future for them, that the road is not harnessed solely against them, and that there’s an intersection of peace and prosperity for them also.”

Hezbollah is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department.

Barrack described the Lebanese government’s response to the plan as “thoughtful” and “spectacular,” adding, “We’re creating a go-forward plan. To create that, we need dialogue.”

While the official response was not made public, Aoun reiterated on Friday that his government is determined to “hold the monopoly over weapons in the country.” The move, he said, would be carried out in accordance with “the interest of the state and its security stability to preserve civil peace on one hand, and national unity on the other.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told JNS on Monday that while he hadn’t heard Barrack’s specific comments, “Hezbollah has to disarm. That is the position of President Trump’s administration and, in my estimation, his people.

“If Hezbollah wants to be a civil body without arms or anything and to be a part of the State of Lebanon, I don’t interfere with Lebanon and how it wants to run itself. There’s a democracy there. [But] Hezbollah won’t have weapons. Period. No chance,” Smotrich said.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Sunday rejected the possibility of disarmament, citing “Israeli threats” and warning of a “confrontation” in response.