Reports: Aoun receives message calling for direct talks with Israel

President Joseph Aoun has received a message calling for direct negotiations with Israel over the outstanding issues, diplomatic sources told Al-Jadeed TV.

Aoun, however, rejected direct negotiations, instead suggesting indirect talks, a refusal that “was not welcomed in Washington,” the sources added.

Al-Binaa newspaper also quoted visitors of Aoun as saying that he has rejected indirect negotiations with Israel, demanding instead “indirect negotiations through the U.S. mediator and the U.N., as previously happened in the sea border demarcation agreement.”

The president is also “rejecting negotiation under fire and is demanding the halt of Israeli attacks and full withdrawal from the South, after which there would be negotiations through the Americans in order to fully implement the ceasefire agreement,” the visitors added.

Aoun is “awaiting a visit to Lebanon by a U.S. envoy, which might happen soon, to ask them about their solution proposals. He is also awaiting the second and third stages of the Gaza ceasefire agreement as well as the U.S.-Iranian negotiations on the hope that they might reflect positively on Lebanon,” the visitors said.

Al-Binaa meanwhile said that the new U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, will arrive in Beirut in two weeks and will meet with President Joseph Aoun.

“He might be accompanied by U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus and they will become the two diplomats in charge of the Lebanese file, while Tom Barrack will focus again on the Syrian file,” the daily added.