Lebanese president nixes normalization with Israel

Lebanese President Joseph Aounon Friday ruled out the prospect of normalizing relations with Israel, though he expressed a desire to end the longstanding conflict with the Jewish state. “Peace is the lack of a state of war, and this is what matters to us in Lebanon at the moment. As for the issue normalization, it is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy,” Aoun said, according to Agence France-Presse.

The comments come after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said last week that Jerusalem is committed to expanding the Abraham Accords and is “interested in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors, to the circle of peace and normalization.”

Syria’s new governing authority has claimed a willingness to work with the United States to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, which created a U.N.-monitored buffer zone separating the two countries. Thomas J. Barrack Jr., U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, told The New York Times last week that Jerusalem and Damascus were engaged in “meaningful” talks aimed at restoring calm to their shared border  (Read More)