What will Lebanon leaders tell Ortagus?
As Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus is due in Beirut in a diplomatic bid to resolve several outstanding issues between Lebanon and Israel, Israel carried out Friday a strike on south Lebanon's port city of Sidon, killing a Hamas commander, despite a truce reached in late November.
A senior official told al-Joumhouria newspaper that the three Lebanese leaders - Speaker Nabih Berri, PM Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun - will tell Ortagus that Lebanon's priority is the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the five points where they are still deployed in south Lebanon and the cessation of Israeli attacks and violations.
The sticking points between Lebanon and Israel that the U.S. is planning to address include the 5 points still occupied in south Lebanon and the release of Lebanese prisoners who were kidnapped during the war. But Washington also wants to address the remaining disputed points along the Blue Line on the Lebanese-Israeli border, by "bringing together Lebanon and Israel for talks aimed at diplomatically resolving" these issues.
Lebanon, for its part, has refused direct negotiations and its leaders have said many times that Lebanon is not ready for normalizing ties with Israel.
The official said that Lebanon wants the border demarcation to be negotiated through a military and technical committee and not through direct talks, like in 2022 when Lebanese and Israeli leaders separately signed a U.S.-brokered maritime demarcation deal after months of indirect talks.
Source: Naharnet
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