Following the first round of negotiations in Switzerland, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry announced that “the parties [the US and Islamic Republic of Iran] agreed on the creation of a deconfliction cell between the parties, the Lebanese Republic, and facilitated by the Mediators [Qatar and Pakistan], to ensure adherence to the termination of military operations in Lebanon as per the MoU.”
As with the MoU, Israel is noticeably excluded from the “deconfliction cell” established to enforce the US-Iranian regime MoU in Lebanon. As we’ve previously explained, attempting to bind a third nation (Israel) to an agreement that the third nation has not consented to is a gross violation of international law.
Moreover, it is bizarre and dangerous to exclude a nation whose operations and defense are at issue from a “deconfliction” mechanism. Normally, two nations that are not in direct conflict with one another establish a military “deconfliction” mechanism to keep each other’s aircraft and militaries from running into one another when they are operating in close proximity.
For instance, in 2017, when Russia was bombing anti-Syrian regime forces, and the US was hitting ISIS forces in Syria, the US and Russia established a deconfliction line in Syria to share coordinates, maneuvers, and other data to avoid midair collisions or confrontations.
Israel and Russia also maintained a military deconfliction agreement in Syria to avoid running into one another when Israel bombed Iranian arms shipments crossing through Syria on the way to Hezbollah, and Russia supported the prior Syrian regime.
A war between Israel and Lebanon (illustrative) (credit: ING IMAGE, REUTERS)
As former national security adviser John Bolton summed it up, “Deconfliction is how friendly forces keep out of each other’s way.”
The situation in Lebanon is very different from situations where deconfliction mechanisms are typically employed.
Hezbollah and Israel are not trying to avoid running into each other while each pursues independent goals. Rather, Hezbollah is directly trying to attack Israel at every opportunity.
Hezbollah isn’t going to give the coordinates and flight patterns of its explosive drones and rockets to Israel to avoid conflict. Rather, Hezbollah will continue using every tool at its disposal to kill Israel.
Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, or Qatar will also never reveal Hezbollah’s maneuvers and operations – as would be required in any normal deconfliction mechanism.
So how is this supposed “deconfliction cell” – primarily managed by the Iranian terror regime and terror supporters and funders Qatar, Turkey, and Pakistan – supposed to work?
JD Vance comments on Israel, Hezbollah
US Vice President JD Vance outlined this as follows: “Sometimes a junior guy (in Hezbollah) fires a drone that didn’t have approval from the high command. Of course, Israel has to respond to that, but we could have a more peaceful situation if Israel responds in the context of the conversation that is ongoing between Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israel, and other partners in the region.”
Seriously? Does anyone really think that Hezbollah’s high command isn’t at a minimum thrilled, and more likely intimately involved, when Hezbollah operatives fire explosive drones that kill more Israelis?
And Israel is just supposed to respond “in the context of conversation”? What conversation, when Israel isn’t even a party to the deconfliction cell?
Vance’s proposal isn’t “deconfliction.” Instead, it is a mechanism to limit Israel’s ability to respond, while Hezbollah pursues conflict, using excuses such as “it was only a junior Hezbollah terrorist that killed the Israelis.”
It all appears to be a method of trying to tie Israel’s hands, and illegally and shortsightedly interfering with Israel’s ability to defend its citizens from Hezbollah, the very same terrorist organization that has the blood of hundreds of Americans on its hands.
The US administration needs to stop making concessions to the Iranian and Hezbollah Nazi-like regimes and their allies, Turkey, Pakistan, and Qatar. The US must end this appeasement. It will fail, as Winston Churchill said: “Those who appease the crocodile will simply be eaten last.”
The writer is the national president of the Zionist Organization of America.