Diplomats from both sides are scheduled to meet on U.S. soil, at the State Department, to discuss an end to Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah that parallel the combined U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran.
At issue is a ceasefire, which will be demanded by Lebanon’s ambassador at the same time the IDF is striking Hezbollah targets in and around Beirut. That ongoing military operation is a counterattack after the terrorist group, which is funded and supported by Iran, launched cross-border attacks when the U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury.
The face-to-face diplomatic talks, which are being called unusual and historic, are also complicated since Lebanon’s well-armed radical Muslims perceive diplomacy with Israel as weakness if not traitorous.
Lebanon, which borders Israel in southern Lebanon, is supposed to operate with a sectarian government that balances the country’s population of Christians and Muslims. That delicate democracy is complicated by Hezbollah, which enjoys both a legitimate and shadowy political influence in the Lebanese parliament. However, that influence has been challenged and pushed back by the government in recent years.
On the eve of the Lebanon-Israel talks, Middle East expert Dr. David Adesnik told “Washington Watch” the current attack by Israel comes after Hezbollah failed to honor a ceasefire last November, now 4 ½ months ago.
“It was based on the condition that Hezbollah would basically pull its forces away from the region just north of the Israeli border,” he advised. “And the Lebanese government, which is not exactly independent of Hezbollah, would supposedly enforce that.”
That ceasefire has been a “complete failure” because of Hezbollah, not the outgunned Lebanese government itself, Adesnik further explained.
