BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday reiterated his commitment to negotiate with Israel, saying that his country had “no option” in the matter.
However, he said: “Negotiation is not conducted with a friend or ally, but with an enemy.
“The language of negotiation is more important than the language of war, which we have seen what it has done to us.”
The media office at the Presidential Palace quoted Aoun as reaffirming his commitment to “the diplomatic language adopted by all of us, from Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.”
Lebanon remains committed to the framework of negotiation “through the Mechanism Committee,” which is limited to military representatives, with the possibility of including civilians in accordance with an American proposal put forward last week by Morgan Ortagus to Lebanese officials.
Aoun’s remarks came in the wake of Israel’s intensification of its attacks on southern Lebanon aimed at increasing the pressure on Hezbollah to disarm.
An Israeli airstrike targeted a motorcycle in Aita Al-Shaab, killing its driver, in the second strike within a few hours.
News outlets close to Hezbollah reported that the man killed was Youssef Naameh, the brother of two others previously killed in Israeli strikes.
In an earlier strike, Israel Defense Forces targeted the town of Doueir in the Nabatieh district, killing one person and injuring seven, according to a statement from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Multiple Lebanese news outlets reported that the man killed was Hezbollah commander Mohammed Ali Hadid, who had previously been wounded in a pager explosion carried out by Mossad in September 2024 — an operation for which Israel never officially claimed responsibility.
According to reports, Hadid had survived a prior Israeli strike on Sunday in the southern town of Zefta, where Israeli drones launched at least three missiles at a target. However, these strikes failed to hit their intended objective.
Footage circulated online showed the targeted car engulfed in heavy flames as firefighting teams fought the effects of the strike which had also resulted in several parked cars catching fire.
A commercial complex containing shops and restaurants was also damaged.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the recent Israeli attacks followed comments from an “Israeli security source” on Sunday.
The source said that “the Lebanese state does not enter certain areas where Hezbollah operates and, if we are asked to act, we know how to increase the pace of attacks in Lebanon if necessary.”
These escalating Israeli strikes have raised the death toll to 16 in less than a week, most of them members of Hezbollah.
A deadly airstrike on Saturday on the town of Kfar Roummane in Nabatieh killed four Hezbollah members and wounded three passersby.
A security source has been quoted as expecting an escalation of Israeli attacks during the remaining months of the year, which is the deadline given by the Lebanese army to complete the disarmament plan south of the Litani Line.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz accused Hezbollah on Sunday of “playing with fire.” He said he was holding the Lebanese government and the Lebanese president “responsible for procrastinating in fulfilling their commitments regarding the disarmament of the party and its withdrawal from the south.”
He also affirmed that “Israel will continue to implement a policy of maximum response in its military operations and will not allow any threat targeting northern residents,” calling on the Lebanese authorities to “assume their full responsibilities to ensure stability and prevent escalation.”
