BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 25. There have been two rounds of meetings at the ambassadorial level in the US involving Israel’s ambassador to the US, Lebanon’s ambassador to the US and a few American politicians TurkicWorld reports via aljazeera.
They are aimed at preparing the ground for direct talks and negotiations down the line. A lot of Lebanon’s political establishment, including the president and prime minister, is trying to continue that track.
They say that this is the only way to secure an Israeli withdrawal, any kind of lasting peace, and maintain Lebanese sovereignty. The president yesterday said that he didn’t want the country to be used as a regional bargaining chip. That is in reference to efforts by Hezbollah and Iran to link the negotiations and ceasefire here in Lebanon to the US-Israel war on Iran.
Their argument is that the Lebanese government doesn’t have a great deal of leverage here, as the Lebanese army is not involved in the fight. Hezbollah argues that without that leverage, they need Iran and the threat of Iranian strikes on Israel in order to secure anything here.
Mohammad Raad, leader of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc in Lebanon, has said that any kind of ceasefire that doesn’t guarantee the complete cessation of Israeli military activity is just providing cover for continued aggression.
Raad also said that the consequences of going into talks while Israeli military activity continues in Lebanon could be worse than the May 17, 1983 agreement, which was supposed to lead to an Israeli withdrawal and a peace agreement here in Lebanon – but in reality led to a civil war with divisions that continue to this day.
