Hezbollah has warned that any diversion from “security issues” during Lebanon's negotiations with Israel will trigger a response from the battered group.
A source close to the Iran-backed group told The National that, although Hezbollah has not yet publicly announced its position, it has delivered its message to the government and the presidency in the past week.
“In principle, Hezbollah has not opposed negotiations with the Israeli entity before, as was the case after the 2006 war or during the US-mediated maritime border talks,” said the source, who serves as a liaison between the group and political entities.
The source added that Hezbollah’s message is that Lebanon must adhere to its “fundamental principles: ending the occupation and stopping the aggression. Any deviation from these will prompt a response from Hezbollah”.
He did not elaborate on what form a response might take, but said Hezbollah maintained that such talks “must not become an opening for direct political negotiations, nor a gateway to offering any concessions”.
The group is in a tough spot regardless. It has few cards left amid continuous Israeli strikes, major intelligence breaches and intensifying US pressure to dismantle and disarm it as soon as possible.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem is scheduled to give a speech on Friday night, in which he is to announce the group's official position on the negotiations.
“The President [Joseph Aoun] indeed has constitutional authority, but any progress in the talks requires agreement among the three leaderships – the presidency, parliament and the government,” said a member of parliament from the pro-Hezbollah bloc.
Wednesday’s talks, agreed to in the hope of “defusing tension", according to Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, marked a rare instance of direct civilian dialogue between Lebanon and Israel.
They were held during a meeting of the US-run ceasefire monitoring body. Previously, military officers from both sides have held talks only to discuss operational matters. The latest round of negotiations, however, hints at the possibility of broader discussions aimed at calming tensions after last year’s destructive war in Lebanon.
On Thursday, Mr Aoun announced that a new round of direct talks with Israel would take place this month. He emphasised that the agenda will be strictly limited to security issues, apparently a message directed at Hezbollah.
“The directives are to focus strictly on security negotiations: stopping the attacks, withdrawing from occupied points, demarcating the borders and securing the release of prisoners. Nothing beyond that is on the table,” he added.
'No other option'
Hezbollah, once a formidable regional proxy likened to a standing army, has lost much of its influence in Lebanon and the Middle East due to the war with Israel, which has eroded the group's arsenal and strained its finances.
Negotiating a way out might be its only option to avoid being completely overtaken by events, especially after losing its vital foothold in Syria with the downfall of Bashar Al Assad's regime a year ago. But western and Arab diplomats told The National that Israel and the US will not relent until the group is fully disarmed.
Iran, meanwhile, has made clear that any decision on Hezbollah’s future must involve Tehran, which has invested tens of billions of dollars in building the group since its creation by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the 1980s.
Lebanon’s delegation is led by Simon Karam, a former ambassador known for his outspoken stance against foreign interference and non-state armed groups. He was a founding member of a coalition of prominent Christian political, religious and intellectual figures formed in 2001 to oppose Syria’s military and political domination of Lebanon.
Mr Karam was appointed by Mr Aoun to lead the civilian delegation in the US-led talks. He was chosen “for his experience and because there is a need for a diplomat with political and sovereign expertise", a source close to the presidency told The National earlier this week.
Hezbollah, however, has made clear that it is unhappy with the choice, the two sources said. “A more national-minded figure with a clearer position on Israel could have been chosen and there are question marks over Simon Karam’s past and what he represents,” the source close to Hezbollah said.
In Israel, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the direct meeting a “historic development” with “unique opportunities to create peace” between the countries. “This is the first step to paving a path with Lebanon and it's clear the Lebanese recognised the economic challenges they are facing,” she said.
But Mr Salam, in a press briefing with journalists, played down the suggestion of economic ties. “Economic relations are part of normalisation, which have to follow peace,” he said. “Normalisation will follow peace. It cannot precede it.”
He told The National that Lebanon's civilian envoy was appointed to the monitoring mechanism in the hope of calming a tense situation marked by near-daily Israeli strikes and threats of a broader military operation in Lebanon.
The appointment of civilian representatives came after Mr Aoun indicated an openness to direct negotiations with Israel, amid US pressure to engage in negotiations. "There is no other option but negotiation,” he said on Thursday.
