Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Friday that his country is ready to negotiate an agreement that would end Israeli strikes in Lebanon and lead to Israel’s withdrawal from five border hills it has held since the Israel-Hezbollah conflict concluded last year.
In a televised Independence Day address, Aoun said Lebanese troops stand ready to deploy to all positions that Israeli forces vacate. He did not clarify whether talks would be direct, saying they could be facilitated by the United States, the United Nations or the broader international community.
It was unclear whether Israel would engage with the proposal, as strikes on Lebanese territory have intensified in recent weeks. On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike killed 13 people in the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon, marking the deadliest attack since the cease-fire took effect a year ago.
Aoun said that once an agreement is reached, the cease-fire monitoring committee – made up of the U.S., France, Israel, Lebanon and the U.N. peacekeeping mission UNIFIL – could verify that only Lebanese state forces are deployed along the border.
Israel has recently accused Hezbollah of attempting to rebuild its capabilities after suffering heavy losses during last year’s conflict.
The latest Israeli attacks on Lebanon killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion in damage, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people were killed, including 80 soldiers.
