Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday named former Ambassador to the United States Simon Karam as Beirut’s envoy for the peace talks with Israel.
“The bilateral negotiations will be conducted on behalf of Lebanon by a delegation led by Ambassador Simon Karam, and no one will participate in this mission in his place or act as his substitute,” Aoun announced during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, according to a statement from the Lebanese Presidency.
Karam, a Maronite Christian and critic of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group, previously headed the Lebanese team in talks regarding the implementation of the Nov. 27, 2024, ceasefire between Jerusalem and Beirut.
Aoun on Monday said that the latest negotiations would aim to “end hostilities, end the Israeli occupation of areas in the south and deploy the [Lebanese] army to the internationally recognized southern borders.” The president stressed that these talks should “enjoy the broadest possible national support to enable the negotiating team to achieve the desired objectives.”
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and suicide drones at Israel on March 2, in retaliation for the Jewish state’s targeted killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Khamenei was killed in the opening strikes of the war.
In response to the terrorist organization’s violation of the U.S.-brokered Nov. 27, 2024, truce agreement, Jerusalem launched an aerial campaign against Hezbollah and ordered IDF troops to advance and take control of additional areas in Southern Lebanon to halt cross-border attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on April 9 that the Lebanese government had requested direct negotiations with the Jewish state aimed at disarming Hezbollah.
After more than two hours of initial talks that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted in Washington, D.C., on April 14, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter said that the most important outcome of the negotiations with his Lebanese counterpart was that Jerusalem and Beirut are “on the same side of the equation.”
“We are both united in liberating Lebanon from an occupation power dominated by Iran called Hezbollah,” said Leiter. “Lebanon is under their occupation, and we are suffering from their constant barrages of missiles and terror attacks trying to cross our border.”
Aoun stated after the April 14 meeting that he hoped the talks mark “the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people.
“The only solution lies in the Lebanese army re-deploying up to the internationally recognized border, and so being solely responsible for the security of the area and the safety of its residents, without the partnership of any other party,” said Aoun.
Israeli and Lebanese officials last engaged in direct, U.S.-brokered negotiations following the 1982 First Lebanon War, culminating in the May 17 Agreement—the closest the two sides have come to a peace arrangement. The deal was never implemented and was formally canceled by Lebanon in 1984, though limited contacts occurred later in multilateral frameworks.
