Overview

• President Joseph Aoun distinguished peace from normalization by defining peace as the absence of war and confirming that formal ties with Israel are not part of Lebanon’s current foreign policy.
• His office announced that only the Lebanese government will hold a monopoly on weapons and have exclusive authority to decide on any future military action.
• Hezbollah says it has withdrawn fighters from the immediate border zone but will not disarm elsewhere until Israel withdraws from five disputed observation posts and halts cross-border airstrikes.
• U.S. envoy Tom Barrack met with Lebanese officials earlier this week and said he was satisfied with Beirut’s response to a proposal for disarming Hezbollah more broadly.
• Lebanon and Israel have legally been at war since 1948, and a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November 2024 under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River.