Iran says open to working with France on truce in Lebanon; Beirut slams ‘interference’
Rare spat between the countries comes after Iranian parliament speaker says Tehran could negotiate over implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701
In a rare public tiff between the countries, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister took issue on Friday with remarks by the speaker of Iran’s parliament, who said Tehran was ready to negotiate with France on implementing a UN resolution concerning southern Lebanon, where Israeli ground troops are battling Hezbollah.
“We are surprised by this position, which constitutes a blatant interference in Lebanese affairs and an attempt to establish a rejected guardianship over Lebanon,” a government statement quoted Prime Minister Najib Mikati as saying.
The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Ghalibaf, made his comments in an interview published on Thursday with French daily Le Figaro.
In the interview, Ghalibaf said Iran could participate in negotiations over the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed in 2006 to end the Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah. The resolution stipulated that the Hezbollah terror group must not maintain a presence within 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) of the border with Israel, something that has never been implemented.
The Iranian parliament speaker called for a ceasefire as soon as possible.
French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country holds sway in Lebanon as a former colonial ruler there, has also urged a ceasefire in Lebanon and called on Israel to halt all its operations in the country.
Under Resolution 1701, the United Nations Security Council authorized a UN peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL “to assist” Lebanese forces in ensuring southern Lebanon is “free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon.”
The resolution failed to keep Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon, however, and the Iranian-backed terror group continued to arm and entrench itself along the border with Israel.
Since October 8, 2023 — the day after the Hamas terror group launched its cross-border assault on Israel that started the ongoing war in Gaza — Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis. Israel says thousands of Hezbollah forces had been ready to invade Israel days later, before they were pushed back by Israeli strikes.
Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack, and increasing rocket fire by the terror group. Israel has vowed to return those residents safely to their homes.
In September, Israel launched a new offensive against Hezbollah, devastating its senior leadership and killing its longtime chief, Hassan Nasrallah.
On October 1, Israel launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon to push back the terror group, destroy its infrastructure and prevent the possibility of an invasion of northern Israel.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, declared on Thursday that it was launching a new phase in its war against Israel, saying it was using precision-guided missiles to target troops.
The announcement came shortly after news that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza, but it did not reference the terror leader’s death.
Earlier, Hezbollah legislator in the Lebanese parliament, Hassan Fadlallah, said the aim of the terror organization’s military command is to keep fighting “with all available means” to prevent Israel from achieving its goals and to eventually agree on a ceasefire.
“Our goal today is to end the aggression. We will not go into any detail related to the mechanism or solutions,” he told reporters, when asked whether Hezbollah still insists that it will only stop fighting once the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza stops.
The attacks on northern Israel over the past year have killed 28 civilians, and 43 IDF soldiers have been killed in the attacks and ensuing ground operations in Lebanon.
The Lebanese government has said that Israeli strikes have killed over 2,400 people in Lebanon over the last year, mainly in the last few weeks. According to the IDF, the toll includes at least 960 Hezbollah operatives.
