Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said today that the goal of direct negotiations with Israel is to end the war, and indirectly addressed Hezbollah, saying that the real “betrayal” is to drag Lebanon into war.
“My goal is to achieve an end to the state of war with Israel, as with the armistice agreement” between Lebanon and Israel in 1949, Aoun said, adding: “I assure you that I will not accept a humiliating agreement.”
In an indirect response to the pro-Iranian organization, which refuses to negotiate directly with Israel, the Lebanese president said that “those who dragged us into the war in Lebanon are now demanding that we be held accountable because we decided to negotiate… What we are doing is not treason, treason is being committed by those who drag the country into war for the benefit of foreign interests.”
Earlier today, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem reiterated that the Shiite organisation rejects direct negotiations between Beirut and Israel, calling them a “dangerous deviation” that risks leading Lebanon into a “cycle of instability”
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