Lebanon's request for a full ceasefire and Israeli pullout has been flatly rejected by the White House and sources say the rebuke was sharp.
Lebanon went to Washington asking for help getting Israel out of its south. Washington sent back a message that amounted to a reprimand. According to sources close to the Lebanese government, Beirut recently approached the United States and asked it to apply increased pressure on Israel, specifically, to enforce a comprehensive ceasefire and compel an IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon ahead of the next round of negotiations. The White House didn't just decline. Senior American officials made clear that the request itself had caused irritation, with the administration viewing the neutralization of Hezbollah as a non-negotiable precondition for any agreement, not a matter to be bargained away under diplomatic pressure.
The message delivered to Lebanese representatives was unambiguous: the US has already been working to limit Israeli strikes on Beirut, and it will continue doing so. But any Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory is fully conditional on Hezbollah's disarmament. An agreement that sidesteps that issue, American officials said, would only "create the conditions for the next war." Israel and the US did agree to extend the current ceasefire in its existing form to allow negotiations to continue, but on their terms, not Beirut's.
The diplomatic exchange reflects a military reality that is already being physically constructed in southern Lebanon. Israel has established what it calls a "Yellow Line" security zone extending up to 10 kilometers north of the border, giving it control over a line of anti-tank fire and the ability to deploy heavy armor and artillery inside Lebanese territory. Five Israeli maneuvering divisions are currently deployed in Lebanon, the same number that were inside Gaza at the height of that conflict. A source briefed on the matter told NPR that Israel has no intention of withdrawing from the buffer zone for the coming months and potentially years, unless it sees tangible progress on Hezbollah's disarmament. (Ed note: The US got that one right.) (Read More)
The message delivered to Lebanese representatives was unambiguous: the US has already been working to limit Israeli strikes on Beirut, and it will continue doing so. But any Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory is fully conditional on Hezbollah's disarmament. An agreement that sidesteps that issue, American officials said, would only "create the conditions for the next war." Israel and the US did agree to extend the current ceasefire in its existing form to allow negotiations to continue, but on their terms, not Beirut's.
The diplomatic exchange reflects a military reality that is already being physically constructed in southern Lebanon. Israel has established what it calls a "Yellow Line" security zone extending up to 10 kilometers north of the border, giving it control over a line of anti-tank fire and the ability to deploy heavy armor and artillery inside Lebanese territory. Five Israeli maneuvering divisions are currently deployed in Lebanon, the same number that were inside Gaza at the height of that conflict. A source briefed on the matter told NPR that Israel has no intention of withdrawing from the buffer zone for the coming months and potentially years, unless it sees tangible progress on Hezbollah's disarmament. (Ed note: The US got that one right.) (Read More)
