to withdraw from the country<\/a> as a necessary condition for peace. \u201cIsrael must leave unconditionally,\u201d Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in a separate statement on Friday.<\/p>\nBut shortly after the framework deal was announced, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dashed that prospect.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important thing is, first of all, that Israel remains in the security zone in southern Lebanon. This is a major achievement, and we will maintain it as long as Hezbollah has not disarmed,\u201d Netanyahu said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah, meanwhile, continued to reject the talks as weakening Lebanon\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe course being pursued by Lebanese authorities amounts to unilateral, gratuitous concessions that will only undermine the country and serve the interests of the Israeli enemy,\u201d said Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah.<\/p>\n
![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/reuters_6a3ec42e-1782498350.jpg\")
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (top centre), Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter (lower left) and Lebanese ambassador Nada Hamadeh (lower right) attend a signing ceremony on June 26 [Ken Cedeno\/Reuters]<\/p>\n
The continued fighting in Lebanon has become a growing source of tension between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, who is facing domestic backlash over the war against Iran.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Trump confirmed he called Netanyahu \u201ccrazy\u201d, though he has insisted the Israeli leader is a \u201cvery good man\u201d with whom he has an \u201camazing partnership\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a little dispute over Lebanon,\u201d Trump said at the Group of 7 (G7) summit in France last week. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that\u2019s from Hezbollah.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then encouraged Netanyahu to adopt a \u201csofter touch\u201d in approaching Lebanon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey could do a much better job with Hezbollah on that. I don\u2019t think they\u2019re doing well. And I feel very bad for Lebanon,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n
In Friday\u2019s news conference, Rubio echoed that message of concern for Lebanon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of Lebanon have suffered tremendously now for decades as a result of outside interference in their affairs, of countries trying to use the country as a launchpad for attacks,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not what the people of Lebanon want, and that\u2019s not what they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is not the first time the US has hosted talks between Israel and Lebanon in recent months. This week\u2019s meeting marked the fifth round of mediated talks between the two sides.<\/p>\n
In April, for instance, Rubio hosted talks between the two sides after ongoing fighting in Lebanon threatened to derail another US-Iran ceasefire agreement, signed on April 7.<\/p>\n
It was touted as the first high-level engagement between the two sides since 1993, but that meeting ultimately concluded with little more than an agreement \u201cto launch direct negotiations\u201d in future.<\/p>\n
That was followed by a two days of negotiations in May, which concluded with \u201ca framework for negotiations to advance lasting peace\u201d, similar to what was announced on Friday.<\/p>\n
Nada Hamadeh, the Lebanese ambassador to the US, called the latest meeting \u201clong and difficult\u201d. But she expressed optimism that the latest framework might advance peace talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trilateral framework we sign today is a first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, securing a permanent and final cessation of hostilities, enabling our people to go back to their land and allowing all Lebanese to live in peace, security, and prosperity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her Israeli counterpart, Yechiel Leiter, praised Hamadeh as a \u201ctough negotiator\u201d who fights \u201clike a lioness\u201d for her country. He also claimed the latest round of talks \u201c\u200aput the train back on the tracks\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s running in the right direction. Final destination? Peace between our two countries. Real peace, where both countries will live in security, where Israel\u2019s and Lebanon\u2019s sovereignty will be respected, honored and protected,\u201d Leiter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this performance-based trilateral framework agreement, Iran is out, Hezbollah is out, and the road to peace between Israel and Lebanon is in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leiter also described the talks as advancing Trump\u2019s vision of \u201cpeace through strength\u201d.<\/p>\n
But experts questioned how substantial Friday\u2019s framework might be. Rami Khouri, a fellow at the American University of Beirut, said a framework alone is \u201cnot something very significant\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a public relations idea that they\u2019d like to see an eventual agreement between Lebanon and Israel, where they\u2019re not shooting, Hezbollah and Israel are not shooting,\u201d Khouri said.<\/p>\n
But he pointed out that Hezbollah has not been part of the talks, which could hamper any deal from being cemented. \u201cThe Lebanese army by itself cannot disarm Hezbollah,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Still, that is not the biggest hurdle in the negotiations ahead, according to Khouri.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Lebanese armed forces can protect all of Lebanon, and if the Israelis stop attacking Lebanon, if Lebanon\u2019s sovereignty and security are guaranteed, Hezbollah shouldn\u2019t be a big problem in the long run,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest problem is that this whole process \u2014 and the symbolism of it being in the State Department kind of confirms this \u2014 is predicated on the fact that Israel\u2019s safety has to be guaranteed before the Lebanese get their rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khouri said the conflict is \u201cresolvable\u201d, so long as both sides treat each other as equals. But he added that he has not seen that so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced a deal framework between Lebanon and Israel after negotiations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1153,54,85,46,48084,88,47,2899,43,1032,1156,162198],"class_list":["post-512609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-conflict","tag-donald-trump","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-attacks-lebanon","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-us-israel-war-on-iran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}