Lebanon’s president cancels planned meeting with Netanyahu

Aoun rules out meeting with Israel’s prime minister, despite reports of planned peace summit; demands Israel halt strikes on Hezbollah and agree to Lebanon’s conditions for a security deal.

By World Israel News Staff

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced this week that he will not meet with Israel’s prime minister amid reports of a planned summit featuring the two leaders.

Aoun said Monday that conditions are not yet suitable for a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding Israel first halt its attacks and agree to a security arrangement.

“The timing is not suitable now to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” Aoun said, according to a statement from the Lebanese presidency. “We must first reach a security agreement and stop the Israeli attacks against us before raising the issue of a meeting.”

The comments came as Washington has pressed for direct Israeli-Lebanese talks, suggesting that a meeting between the two leaders could help secure an Israeli military withdrawal from southern Lebanon and restore Lebanese state control there.

A statement from the US Embassy in Beirut last week said that “Lebanon stands at a crossroads” and called for direct engagement between the countries’ leaders.

Aoun said his recent contacts with US, European and Arab officials were aimed at ending the conflict and clarifying Lebanon’s position. He said those efforts helped remove misunderstandings about Beirut’s response to the crisis.

The remarks followed a US-brokered ceasefire that began April 17 and was later extended by three weeks by President Donald Trump.

Reuters reported that the extension followed White House talks involving Israeli and Lebanese representatives and senior US officials.

Despite the truce, fighting has continued in southern Lebanon.

Reuters reported Monday that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally and Lebanon’s most senior Shi’ite politician, also rejected negotiations with Israel before the war stops.

Israel has noted that Hezbollah has repeatedly violated the ceasefire, while Lebanon has demanded an Israeli withdrawal, the return of displaced residents and the release of captives.

Aoun said there was “no turning back from the path of negotiations,” according to Lebanese media, but insisted that security stability must come first.