UNSC delegation meets with Lebanon's Aoun and visits south during Israeli escalation

Lebanons President Joseph Aoun met with a visiting United Nations Security Council (UNSC) delegation to address rising tensions with Israel and discuss efforts to disarm Hezbollah, following recent Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanons National News Agency (NNA).

During Fridays meeting, Aoun called on the UNSC to urge Israel to honor the November 2024 ceasefire, which has been frequently violated, and to withdraw from occupied areas in the south. We hope to see pressure from your side, Aoun told the delegation, as reported by the NNA.

The UN delegation is also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and Lebanese army commander Rodolphe Haykal. Aoun stated that the team would tour southern Lebanon to assess the situation on the ground and witness the armys progress in dismantling Hezbollahs weapons.

The visit occurs amid tentative moves toward engagement between Lebanon and Israel, who remain technically at war since 1948. Civilian representatives from both countries held their first direct discussions in decades on Wednesday, a development welcomed by the United States as a step toward security, stability, and lasting peace. Prime Minister Salam described the talks as positive, emphasizing they focused solely on enforcing the 2024 truce rather than broader normalization.

Despite the truce, Israeli forces conducted strikes on Thursday in four southern Lebanese villages, targeting Hezbollah positions but causing civilian casualties and significant infrastructure damage. Al Jazeera correspondent Zeina Khodr reported that the attacks signaled that negotiations would continue under fire, until Hezbollah is fully disarmed.

Aouns Information Minister Paul Morcos affirmed that the Lebanese government considers negotiations with Israel, set to resume on December 19, the only viable path forward. Aoun, a former army chief, emphasized at a cabinet meeting that the language of negotiation not the language of war must prevail and stressed that Lebanon would not compromise on its sovereignty.

The November 2024 ceasefire requires Lebanon to prevent attacks by armed groups and obliges Israel to halt offensive military actions. Nonetheless, Israeli forces maintain control over at least five positions inside Lebanon and continue near-daily strikes that have killed over 300 people, including at least 127 civilians, according to UN reports. Israel maintains that its operations aim to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its military capabilities.

Lebanon remains committed to disarming Hezbollah, but the groups deputy leader, Naim Qassem, has rejected disarmament as long as Israeli attacks persist. Qassem recently declared that Hezbollah reserves the right to respond to the assassination of its top military commander in Beirut last month, calling the killing of Haytham Ali Tabatabai a blatant aggression and a heinous crime and asserting that the group will decide the timing of any response.

Author: Logan Reeves