Lebanon will negotiate a ‘deconfliction’ strategy ahead of the talks with Israel Story

Details are scarce on the cell, which Qatar and Pakistan say wants to ensure an end to military operations in Lebanon.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun discussed the country’s “conflict resolution process” with United States Vice President JD Vance and the Qatari Prime Minister.

Monday’s phone call focused on brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s president said in a statement. Hostilities between the two have seen the Israeli army occupy areas of southern Lebanon and launch repeated attacks while Hezbollah has attacked northern Israel.

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Hezbollah’s ally Iran has made the ceasefire a key element of its ongoing negotiations with the US, which went to war with Iran alongside Israel in February.

Lebanon is due to resume peace talks with Israel in the US on Tuesday. However, Hezbollah has refused to abide by previous ceasefire agreements and has criticized the Lebanese government for dealing with Israel.

Qatar and Pakistan – which mediated the first round of the US-Iran talks in Switzerland on Sunday – said that “the parties agreed on the creation of a deconfliction cell” to “ensure the cessation of military operations in Lebanon,” but did not provide details.

Vance later told reporters that the system was designed to prevent incidents from “escalating”.

“We believe … that we can reach a point where the integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon is protected, the security of Israel is protected,” he said.

“This will require cooperation with the Lebanese military and will also require the Iranians to return to Hezbollah,” Vance said.

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, wrote on television after the talks in Switzerland: “The first real test: Lebanon’s intelligence cell.”

‘All rights’

Lebanon has been a sticking point between the US and Iran’s efforts to find a lasting peace deal. Delegations from Lebanon and Israel began their first direct talks since 1993 in April, it is the fifth round of negotiations due to start on Tuesday in Washington.

Tehran has insisted that any peace deal with Washington must end the war on all sides, including Lebanon. However, Israel has continued to attack Lebanon and Hezbollah has fought back.

This has seen Washington heavily criticize Israel. Vance last week warned the Israeli leadership “you can’t just kill your way out” on the national security crisis, and forced it stop “attacking” US options.

Israel continued its offensive in Lebanon until Saturday, killing dozens of people. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he promised to occupy southern Lebanon “as long as necessary”.

Late on Monday, in an attempt to calm hard-line opponents in his government, Netanyahu insisted that the Israeli army would exercise “full freedom” to deal with any threat it faces in southern Lebanon, and that the army would remain in the area as long as necessary.

‘Cautious calm’

It seems that the US pressure on Netanyahu is working, as the end of the war in Lebanon seems to be happening on Sunday and Monday.

The spokesman told reporters that Sunday is the first day since the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2 that the peacekeepers of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have not detected any attempt of aircraft from either side.

Reporting from Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett described the “caution button”.

“But it has followed several brutal and bloody days in this city and surrounding towns and villages,” he said.

Direct damage to buildings in southern Lebanon is estimated at $1.38bn since the latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict began in March, according to the United Nations and Lebanon’s research center.

More than 11,000 houses have been “totally destroyed”, the report said.

The Israeli attack has killed at least 4,175 people and injured 12,164, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said on Monday.