Lebanon President wants security agreement with Israel

“ We have no choice other than negotiations, because the alternative is war, which would be very costly for us,” Aoun explained in an interview with the French agency AFP.

Aoun will take part on Thursday in Paris, alongside President Emmanuel Macron and King Abdullah II of Jordan, in a meeting to prepare international support for the deployment of the Lebanese army throughout the territory.

Lebanese troops are expected to deploy in the south following a progressive withdrawal of Israeli forces under the agreement reached between Lebanon and Israel in June, under US mediation.

The agreement provides for the disarmament of the Lebanese pro-Iranian movement Hezbollah, which Aoun said was a Beirut decision that “is not negotiable or object of debate.”.

He rejected the objective of a confrontation of the Lebanese forces with the armed militias of Hezbollah, which has parliamentary representation.

“ We are determined to resolve this dossier peacefully,” he said, refusing to “build a state at the price of a bloody conflict in Lebanon or a new civil war.”.

Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into two successive wars against neighbouring Israel, the first in 2023, to support Palestinian Hamas, and the second last March, in support of Iran.

The two conflicts caused about 9,000 deaths, according to the Lebanese authorities.

Despite a ceasefire in force, the Israeli army continues to occupy part of southern Lebanon and has maintained attacks on alleged Hezbollah targets.

Aoun said he had “been clear with the Iranians”, Hezbollah sponsors.

“ Your relations with Lebanon should be based on mutual respect and non-interference in Lebanese internal affairs,” the AFP said.

Aoun defended the negotiations with Israel, rejected by Hezbollah, and said that the security agreement aims to “put an end to the state of hostility and allow the [Lebanon] army to be deployed at the border.”.

“This could be the prelude to a later peace agreement, but (...) we must move forward step by step”, starting with the Israeli withdrawal, he said.

Faced with the end of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (FINUL) in December, Aoun said he wanted a new force in the south of the country, European or other, to avoid a security void.

“ Our Arab and European partners, as well as the United States and our friends, must take responsibility with us to support the army and strengthen the Lebanese state,” he said.

Aoun said that the deployment of the new international force will be “temporary until the Lebanese army is in a position to unfold” in southern Lebanon.

The former commander-in-chief argued, however, that international support for the Lebanese armed forces should be long-term.

“We do not want temporary support (...), we want a long-term timetable and a global plan,” he said, saying he will address the issue with Macron in Paris.

France is an important contributor to FINUL.

Aoun considered that “the best option” would be “to extend the mandate of FINUL”.

But under American pressure, the UN Security Council decided in August 2025 to set in December the end of the mandate of the international force, an impotent witness to violence in southern Lebanon since 1978.

“Whatever the nature of this force, I have no problem: European, not European, North American, another force of the United Nations, Asian, or even a mixture of European, Arab and Asian forces,” he said.

On the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Israel, Aoun said it was an Israeli internal issue.

But he told the Israelites that only their withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the deployment of Lebanese forces can ensure “stability, security and the absence of war” at the borders of Israel.