Israel and Lebanon signed a framework agreement in Washington on Friday following days of talks aimed at ending the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah. Both sides were careful to frame the deal as an opening move rather than a resolution.
Lebanese Ambassador Nada Maaouad and her Israeli counterpart Yechiel Leiter signed the trilateral document alongside the United States at the State Department.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke before the signing. “Today we have taken the first step in a journey that will no doubt be difficult, but is important, fundamental and necessary,” he said. In a subsequent statement, Rubio said the US would facilitate implementation through a trilateral “Lebanon Military Coordination Group” and would commit substantial resources, including $100 million in immediate humanitarian assistance coordinated with the United Nations. Washington also reaffirmed plans to invest more than $30 million to strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces’ capacity to assert sovereignty across Lebanese territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement would allow Israeli forces to remain in southern Lebanon if Hezbollah did not disarm. It would also, he said, permit the Lebanese army to begin reorganising and asserting control over Lebanese territory, starting with what he described as two pilot zones from which Israeli forces would withdraw.
Israel refers to the territory it currently holds as a security or buffer zone, positioning it as a barrier against Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel.
The conflict began on March 2, when Hezbollah opened fire on Israel in the days following a US-Israeli strike on Iran. Israel responded with air strikes and ground raids that have killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than one million.
Ambassador Maaouad called the agreement “a first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty.” Israeli Ambassador Leiter praised her for negotiating with courage, and said: “Iran and Hezbollah have been excluded, and a peace track between Israel and Lebanon has begun.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the deal was “the beginning of the road for Lebanese people to return to their fully liberated land, and to their homes, under the sovereignty of a Lebanese state that shares its sovereignty with no one.”
