An adviser to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has argued that Lebanon’s diplomatic track with ‘Israel’ must deliver so-called “tangible results,” warning that a prolonged Israeli military presence could ultimately strengthen Hezbollah’s argument that negotiations cannot secure Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Writing in Just Security under the headline “Don’t Let Lebanon’s Peace Agreement Prove Hezbollah Right,” Jen Aziz said the US-mediated “Framework Agreement” risks becoming a “self-reinforcing trap” if ‘Israel’ conditions further withdrawal on Lebanese action while continuing to occupy Lebanese territory and conduct military operations.
“Israel points to Hezbollah’s weapons as a reason to remain. Hezbollah points to Israel’s continued presence as a reason to remain armed,” Aziz wrote, describing the Lebanese state as “being caught between the two.”
According to Aziz, the central challenge is therefore “not simply dismantling Hezbollah’s military arsenal, but demonstrating that the Lebanese state can provide the security and sovereignty that Hezbollah has historically cited to justify maintaining its weapons.”
“If that continues, the agreement will not weaken Hezbollah’s resistance narrative. It will supply it with new evidence,” he wrote.
Aziz said that Hezbollah’s armed role cannot be addressed through a simple demand to surrender weapons, arguing that a credible transition would require the Lebanese state to replace the security, political and socioeconomic functions the Lebanese resistance group has developed over decades.
He also called for a broader process of “disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration,” alongside reconstruction, stronger state institutions and expanded support for the Lebanese Army.
At the heart of Aziz’s argument, however, is Israeli withdrawal. He wrote that “full Israeli withdrawal is not a separate diplomatic demand sitting alongside decommissioning,” but rather “one of the conditions that makes decommissioning politically credible.”
Aziz urged Washington to use its leverage to ensure that ‘Israel’ does not turn withdrawal into an “indefinitely postponed reward for Lebanese performance,” arguing that the Lebanese Army must be given access to territory it is expected to control.
The article ultimately presents the diplomatic path as a “test of whether Lebanon can demonstrate that state institutions can recover territory, provide security and exercise sovereignty.”
Source: Al-Manar English Website