Lebanese President Warns Hezbollah Over Betrayal
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has emphasised that direct negotiations with Israel aim to end the war between Tel Aviv and the Hezbollah group. Aoun warned that the party dragging Lebanon into the war is the one committing “betrayal”.
Aoun’s statement is a jab at Hezbollah, whose leader Naim Qassem described direct negotiations with Israel as a “great sin”.
The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors held two meetings in Washington DC, United States (US), in recent weeks. These meetings mark the first between the two countries in several decades. Hezbollah has firmly rejected these direct negotiations.
Following the first round of talks, US President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire effective from 17 April, then extended it for three weeks after the second round was held last week.
“My goal is to end the war situation with Israel, similar to the 1949 armistice agreement,” Aoun stated, as reported by AFP on Tuesday (28/4/2026).
He referred to the armistice agreement that ended the fighting between the two countries in 1949, following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
“Is the armistice agreement an insult? I assure you that I will not accept a humiliating deal,” Aoun asserted.
Aoun then issued a statement laced with sarcasm towards Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran. “What we are doing is not betrayal. On the contrary, the betrayal is committed by those who bring their country into war to achieve foreign interests,” he said.
Aoun faces sharp criticism from Hezbollah and its supporters, who claim that his push for direct negotiations with Israel lacks consensus from various communities in Lebanon.
These direct negotiations mark the latest point of contention after the Lebanese government decided to disarm Hezbollah last year and banned the group’s military activities in March.
“Some parties want to hold us accountable for the decision to negotiate on the grounds that there is no national consensus,” he said.
“My question to them is: when you go to war, do you first obtain national consensus?” Aoun asked Hezbollah.
Lebanon has been drawn into the Middle East war since 2 March, after Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israeli territory in retaliation for the death of Iran’s former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli strike.
Since then, a series of Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 2,500 people and injured over 7,750 others. Tel Aviv’s onslaught has also forced more than 1.6 million people in Lebanon to flee. Israel has also deployed ground forces to southern Lebanon.