Lebanon and Israel in (indirect) negotiations to settle border dispute

The representatives of the two countries agreed yesterday to start talks on the land border. The mediation of the United States was decisive, with the Israeli government then releasing five Lebanese detainees, including a member of Hezbollah. Surprise among the ranks of the Party of God, who tried to hinder the agreement by refusing disarmament and a diplomatic solution.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - An important development occurred yesterday in Lebanon, taking by surprise the upper echelons in Beirut who had feared a stagnation of the military situation on the border with Israel and the same leaders of Hezbollah.

The United States has in fact changed the course of the situation, announcing the imminent resumption of indirect negotiations between the Land of the Cedars and Israel, with three objectives: to definitively rectify the border between the two states, currently delimited by a provisional ‘blue line’ temporary line traced by the United Nations; to put an end to the occupation by the Jewish state, since 18 February, of five observation points in Lebanese territory, while the ceasefire agreement of 26 November 2024 provides for the total withdrawal of Israeli forces; to release all Lebanese prisoners detained by Israel.

With this in mind, three joint working groups will be set up to deal with these three points of the agreement. The announcement was made at the end of a meeting of the Israeli-Lebanese ceasefire supervision committee, led by US General Jasper Jeffers, at the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping force in Naqoura.

According to Axios, a delegation from the US State Department is expected in Beirut shortly to follow up on these proposals. The senior US official had previously met with Head of State Joseph Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, in the presence of US ambassador Lisa Johnson.

However, the issue of the Shebaa Farms, a part of which is still occupied by Israel, was excluded from this agreement, since Lebanese sovereignty over this portion of territory is also contested by Syria. However, it is not impossible that the installation of the new Syrian government could provide an opportunity to resolve this issue too, which his predecessor [Bashar al-Assad] had always refused to address and settle.

A ‘gesture’ by Netanyahu

Confirming the agreement from his office, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the Jewish state would make a ‘gesture’ to the Aoun presidency, by releasing five Lebanese prisoners detained by his army. In reality, four of them were handed over yesterday at the Unifil headquarters in Naqoura. A fifth, who is in hospital, should be released today.

Citing two American officials, Axios reported that one of the Lebanese released by Israel is a member of Hezbollah. According to reports in Lebanon, a total of 11 citizens of the Land of the Cedars are currently being held by Israel. Among these eleven, whom Beirut considers to be ‘hostages’, there is also Imad Fadel Amhaz, who was studying at the Batroun Institute of Maritime Science and Technology and whom the Israeli government allegedly presented and considered to be a ‘member of Hezbollah's naval force’. He was kidnapped at the beginning of November 2024 by an Israeli naval commando, who took him from a chalet he was occupying on the Lebanese coast.

Hezbollah taken by surprise

The resumption of negotiations and the release of the Lebanese prisoners took Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naïm Qassem by surprise, as he had just expressed doubts about the success of Lebanon's diplomatic efforts to resolve the differences with Israel. Observers believe that this announcement gives the new government a powerful argument for speeding up the implementation of Resolution 1701, whose main objective is the disarmament of the pro-Iranian Party of God.

According to sources from the US State Department quoted by journalist Bassam Abizeid from the Ici-Beyrouth website, these developments are part of a context of renewed attempts at normalisation between Israel and some Arab countries. They should finally lead to the inclusion of Lebanon in the so-called Abraham Accords led by Saudi Arabia and aimed at full relations between the Jewish state and Riyadh. However, an anonymous diplomatic source quoted by the Lebanese newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour denied these rumours and stated that ‘these are in no way political negotiations’.

Continuous attacks

Despite the diplomatic breakthrough, fighting continued throughout yesterday in the south of the country, during which an Israeli drone attack on a car was also recorded in the Nabatiyeh region. The raid is believed to have caused the death of Hassan Abbas Ezzedine, identified as a Hezbollah commander and head of the air defence unit. Another drone attack in the Froun Kfarsir valley, in the Nabatiyeh caza, caused at least one casualty, according to a report confirmed by the Lebanese Ministry of Health.