Lebanese president urges implementation of June 26 framework deal
A two-day round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel is set to begin Tuesday in Rome, Aoun said, expressing hope that the talks would produce tangible progress on the ground. The June 26 framework agreement, which Aoun described as “the best available option” to end the war, calls for a phased Israeli withdrawal from occupied parts of southern Lebanon to allow the Lebanese Army to deploy and restore sovereign authority.
The plan begins with two pilot zones — the towns of Froun, Ghandourieh, Zawtar al-Gharbieh and Zawtar al-Sharqieh in the central sector near the Litani River. A U.S. military team has held coordination meetings with the Lebanese Army over the past two days to discuss preparations for the deployment, according to the UPI report.
“The Israeli Prime Minister must realize that war will not achieve security and that any stability can only be attained through understanding and consensus,” Aoun said in an official statement. He warned that continuing the war will only lead to more killing, destruction and displacement, arguing that Israel destroyed Gaza and launched several wars against Lebanon without achieving its objectives.
Aoun, who met with local and foreign delegations including Nelson Mandela’s The Elders group, said he will explain the situation in Lebanon to Trump and stressed the importance of taking advantage of the current U.S. administration’s desire to achieve peace in the region.
The core of the framework deal is Hezbollah’s disarmament and the dismantling of its military infrastructure. The group, which was nurtured, armed and financed by Iran since its founding in the early 1980s, insists that maintaining its armed resistance is Lebanon’s strength and refuses to disarm — a key Israeli condition for withdrawing from southern Lebanon. Aoun’s decision to pursue direct negotiations with Israel was also intended to distance Lebanon from Iran’s influence and its attempts to link Lebanon’s fate to Tehran’s separate negotiating track with the United States, according to the UPI report.
Hezbollah has described the direct negotiations as capitulation to Israeli and U.S. demands. The Lebanese Health Ministry’s count shows 4,324 dead and 12,221 wounded since March 2, when Hezbollah resumed fighting in support of Iran after 15 months of inactivity that followed the Nov. 27, 2024 cease-fire agreement.