Report: How shared fear of Iran led to a controversial Israel-Lebanon deal
Four days of nonstop negotiations in Washington this week between the Israeli and Lebanese governments were propelled by "one clear shared interest: weakening the influence of Hezbollah and Iran in Lebanon," according to U.S., Israeli and Lebanese officials.
During talks in Switzerland last Sunday, the U.S. and Iran agreed to create a new "deconfliction cell," together with Lebanon and the Pakistani and Qatari mediators, to ensure the ceasefire in Lebanon holds.
"That shocked both Israeli and Lebanese officials, who saw it as bolstering Hezbollah and legitimizing Iran's influence in the country," U.S. news portal Axios quoted the Lebanese, Israeli and U.S. officials as saying.
When they met at the State Department on Tuesday, Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter opened the first session with a strongly worded speech calling the new U.S.-Iranian understandings on Lebanon "a train wreck."
Leiter asked the U.S. mediators whether the U.S. was actually still interested in weakening Iran's influence in Lebanon, as the Israel-Lebanon talks had been aiming to do.
Lebanon's representatives followed up with their own demands for clarification. "The Lebanese were on their heels," a source with direct knowledge told Axios.
While the U.S. mediators stressed the goal was to get an Israeli-Lebanese agreement with no outside interference, the first day of the talks was "pretty ugly," a U.S. official conceded.
The parties dug in on their positions, particularly on security issues, and it felt to some participants as though the negotiations were actually moving backward.
The parties worked on three documents: a framework agreement, a security annex, and an agreement on an initial Israeli withdrawal from two "pilot zones," to be replaced by the Lebanese army.
On Wednesday, the negotiations picked up steam. U.S. officials began to think an agreement could be signed the next day.
But on Thursday, the tables turned again. As the day passed, the parties hardened their positions, and the U.S. couldn't bridge the gaps on all three documents to create a single package. The main dispute was over the terms and locations of the Israeli withdrawals.
On Thursday evening, both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun hit the brakes. Negotiators on both sides asked for more time to consult with their capitals, and the U.S. mediators agreed to extend the talks by a day.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed back in Washington on Thursday night after a trip to the Persian Gulf.
"Rubio had been speaking by phone with both Netanyahu and Aoun since Tuesday, holding around eight calls in total with the two leaders," Axios said.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance also spoke to each leader at least once.
"Rubio emphasized to Netanyahu and Aoun that it was important to President Trump for a deal to be wrapped up by the end of the week," Axios added.
The high-level attention from Washington "made it clear to both sides that there was a clear sense of urgency here," a source with knowledge said.
On Friday morning, Rubio joined the talks to try to close the final gaps.
The U.S. asked Israel for two changes to the text in order to secure the deal, including an Israeli withdrawal from a village in southern Lebanon currently under Israeli occupation and a clear statement that this would mark the beginning of a broader process of redeployment out of Lebanon.
Leiter pressed Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials to agree in a call that became heated when Netanyahu resisted the changes.
Two sources said Leiter raised his voice as he made the case that the deal was an important achievement and Israel needed to sign.
"There wasn't a lot of trust between Israel and Lebanon, but eventually both parties understood they needed to get a deal in order to keep control of the process and not allow Iran in," a source with direct knowledge said.
The agreement immediately increased internal tensions in Lebanon.
Hezbollah tried to organize demonstrations in Beirut against the deal on Friday, but only managed to mobilize several hundred people who were quickly dispersed.
On Saturday, Lebanese security forces took down dozens of posters placed by Hezbollah on the main road to Beirut's international airport, thanking Iran's supreme leader for the ceasefire.
In their place, the Lebanese government hung its own posters with the slogan, "Lebanon first" — some of which were burned by Hezbollah supporters on Saturday night.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem declared the agreement with Israel "null and void" and called it "a humiliation, disgrace, and a surrender of sovereignty."
He stressed Hezbollah will continue its "resistance" to the Israeli occupation.
Later on Saturday, Trump spoke with Aoun and congratulated him on the deal.
Trump said the U.S. would provide everything necessary to implement the agreement and to support Lebanon's sovereignty and the extension of the Lebanese state's authority over the entire Lebanese territory, Aoun's office said.
At the end of the call, Trump told Aoun he looked forward to meeting him soon at the White House. The visit is expected in mid-July.
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