BEIRUT: Lebanon’s president on Friday defended his decision to expand talks with Israel as a way to avoid further violence, but the head of Hezbollah called it a blunder, lifting the lid on divisions at a watershed moment for the country.

On Wednesday, Israel and Lebanon both sent civilian envoys to a military committee monitoring their ceasefire, a step towards a months-old US demand that the two countries broaden talks in line with President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace agenda.

Joseph Aoun told visiting representatives of the United Nations Security Council that his country “has adopted the option of negotiations with Israel” and that “there is no going back”.

“These negotiations are mainly aimed at stopping the hostile actions carried out by Israel on Lebanese territory, securing the return of the captives, scheduling the withdrawal from the occupied areas, and resolving the disputed points along the Blue Line,” Aoun said in a statement, referring to the UN-mapped line that separates Israel from Lebanon.

Hezbollah calls move ‘free concession’

But the expanded talks were criticised by Hezbollah.

Its head Naim Qassem said sending a civilian delegate to the truce monitoring committee was a “blunder”, and urged the government to rethink its decision.

“You offered a free concession that will not change anything in the enemy’s (Isra­el’s) position or its attacks,” Qassem said.

Lebanon and Israel have been officially “enemy states” for more than 70 years, and meetings between their civilian officials have been extraordinarily rare throughout their fraught history.

Over the last year, military officials have met as part of a committee, chaired by the United States, to monitor a truce last year that ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

In that time, Israel has continued its air strikes on what it alleges are Hezbollah’s attempts to rearm in violation of the truce. Lebanon says those strikes and Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanese territory are ceasefire breaches.

Fears are growing in Lebanon that Israel could expand its air campaign further to ratchet up pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbo­llah more swiftly across the country.

The group has refused to disarm in full and has raised the spectre of internal strife if the state tries to confront it.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2025