{"id":181614,"date":"2025-12-12T23:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T23:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/181614\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T23:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T23:09:11","slug":"beirut-received-warnings-of-possible-israeli-offensive-against-hezbollah-lebanese-fm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/181614\/","title":{"rendered":"Beirut received warnings of possible Israeli offensive against Hezbollah — Lebanese FM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lebanon has received warnings from Arab and international parties that Israel is preparing for a wide-scale military operation against Hezbollah, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji told Al Jazeera on Friday, as Beirut intensifies diplomatic efforts to avert further escalation.<\/p>\n

Rajji said the Lebanese government is engaged in intensive talks through diplomatic channels aimed at preventing such an operation and ensuring that state personnel and facilities are not targeted. At the same time, he said Beirut continues efforts to negotiate with Hezbollah, seeking to persuade the Iranian-backed terror organization to give up its weapons voluntarily.<\/p>\n

According to Rajji, Hezbollah\u2019s arms have failed in their stated purpose, proving ineffective \u201cin supporting Gaza and defending the country\u201d over the past two years, even as the group refuses to disarm.<\/p>\n

Rajji\u2019s remarks also highlighted Lebanon\u2019s broader confrontation with Iran\u2019s influence in the country and across the region. Speaking to Al Jazeera, the foreign minister described Tehran\u2019s role in Lebanon and the Middle East as \u201cvery negative,\u201d calling Iranian policy \u201ca source of instability.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Lebanon\u2019s pro-Western government remains open to dialogue with Iran, if it stops funding \u201can illegal organization\u201d in Lebanon, a euphemism for Hezbollah, and stops interfering in the country\u2019s internal affairs.<\/p>\n

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The comments come after Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi announced<\/a> Thursday that he would travel to Beirut for talks after Rajji declined to visit Tehran, saying his Iranian counterpart welcome in Beirut or that they could meet in a \u201cneutral\u201d country.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tHezbollah members raise the terror group\u2019s flags and chant slogans as they attend the funeral procession of Hezbollah\u2019s military chief of staff, Haytham Tabatabai, and two other Hezbollah members who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, November 24, 2025. (AP Photo\/Hussein Malla)<\/p>\n

Turning to recent direct talks<\/a> with Israel, Rajji stressed that Lebanon is not engaged in \u201ctraditional negotiations\u201d but is trying to return to an armistice with Israel.<\/p>\n

Demands for Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament have mounted since the onset of a ceasefire between Israel and the terror group just over a year ago.<\/p>\n

Under the terms of the ceasefire, which ended the October 2023-November 2024 conflict between Israel and a badly weakened Hezbollah, the terror group was to be disarmed and allow the Lebanese Armed Forces to deploy fully across the country as the Israel Defense Forces withdrew. That disarmament has not yet happened, however, despite Lebanon having drawn up a plan to do so.<\/p>\n

Israel has retained troops in the country, and regularly conducts strikes that it says are against Hezbollah attempts to rebuild its strength.<\/p>\n

Agencies contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


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