{"id":514598,"date":"2026-06-28T03:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T03:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/514598\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T03:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T03:52:10","slug":"israel-lebanon-peace-push-faces-reality-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/514598\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel-Lebanon peace push faces reality check"},"content":{"rendered":"

On paper, the trilateral agreement<\/a> signed on Friday between Israel, Lebanon, and the United States represents the genuine hope shared by all parties that peace between the two countries remains possible.<\/p>\n

Whether that hope will be enough to turn that possibility into reality remains as uncertain as ever.<\/p>\n

For Israel, the framework\u2019s most significant provision is the explicit confirmation that the IDF will be able to remain deployed in southern Lebanon \u201cpending the verified disarmament of non-state armed groups and dismantlement of associated infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, the IDF<\/a> would withdraw from two initial pilot zones and be replaced by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), which would then facilitate the safe return of Lebanese civilians to those areas. This effectively gives the LAF a test case: Will Lebanese authorities be able to keep Hezbollah out once the IDF is gone?<\/p>\n

UN Security Council Resolution 1701 was also supposed to keep Hezbollah north of the Litani River. Instead, Hezbollah spent nearly two decades rebuilding its military strength under the watch of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon. Israeli officials have repeatedly voiced frustration over Lebanese forces\u2019 failure to disarm Hezbollah following previous ceasefire agreements.<\/p>\n

\"YouthsYouths ride vehicles while waving flags of Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Hezbollah in Baghdad on June 15, 2026, during celebrations following the announcement of a deal to end the war between Iran and the US. (credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE \/ AFP via Getty Images)Israel-Lebanon deal needs realism to succeed<\/p>\n

If Lebanon is serious about reclaiming its sovereignty from Hezbollah, it must finally do its part to secure its own territory \u2013 a task for which far too many IDF soldiers have already paid with their lives.<\/p>\n

The framework, if implemented, could finally force the Lebanese government to choose between enforcing its own authority or allowing the country\u2019s future to remain hostage to a terrorist organization that answers to the Islamic regime in Tehran.
In doing so, it brings Beirut to confront the central issue it has avoided for years \u2013 finally acknowledging that Hezbollah is the obstacle holding Lebanon back, and not a legitimate partner in rebuilding the country.<\/p>\n

Another encouraging sign that the agreement could help end the fighting along Israel\u2019s northern border is Hezbollah secretary-general Naim Qassem\u2019s vehement opposition to it.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued on Saturday, Qassem denounced the framework<\/a> as a \u201chumiliation\u201d and a surrender of Lebanese sovereignty, declared it null and void, and called for it to be replaced by the memorandum of understanding signed by the United States and Iran.<\/p>\n

His reaction underscores the stark contrast between Friday\u2019s framework and Washington\u2019s separate understanding with Tehran.<\/p>\n

Last week, a statement issued by the mediating countries, Qatar and Pakistan<\/a>, announced the creation of a deconfliction mechanism for Lebanon. That mechanism reportedly excludes Israeli representatives from the body overseeing implementation, while including Iran.<\/p>\n

Yet, the framework agreement itself contains no reference to the Qatar-Pakistan mechanism. One agreement gives Iran an oversight role in Lebanon\u2019s security reconstruction, while another explicitly affirms Lebanon\u2019s position that \u201cany claim by any state or non-state actor to exercise a military or security role is illegal\u2026 and contrary to Lebanese national interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The contradiction is difficult to ignore. When push comes to shove, which of these competing understandings will actually be implemented, if any?<\/p>\n

Alongside his Lebanese counterpart and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter called the agreement a \u201chistoric\u201d step toward \u201creal peace,\u201d saying negotiators had managed to put the diplomatic \u201ctrain back on the tracks\u201d after previously referring to the talks as a \u201ctrainwreck.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a video message released on Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also heralded the framework as \u201ca major achievement for the State of Israel,\u201d adding that \u201cthe most important thing is that Israel is saying: our security comes first.\u201d
While the optimism is refreshing after a period of diplomatic setbacks, Israelis would be justified in approaching the framework with caution, given the failures of previous ceasefire agreements.<\/p>\n

The agreement, as published by the US State Department, repeatedly invokes the word \u201cpeace.\u201d The shared hope for a stable and prosperous northern border is evident throughout the document.<\/p>\n

But, as is so often the case in the Middle East, the true test will be determined on the ground, in southern Lebanon \u2013 by whether Hezbollah is genuinely disarmed, whether the Lebanese state is willing and able to enforce its sovereignty, and whether the commitments made on paper survive an encounter with reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On paper, the trilateral agreement signed on Friday between Israel, Lebanon, and the United States represents the genuine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[86,1031,85,46,88,71283,43,4497,2586],"class_list":["post-514598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-hezbollah","tag-idf","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-lebanon","tag-naim-qassem","tag-news","tag-united-nations","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514598","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=514598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}