Lebanon is facing a new phase to work on “permanent agreements” after the ceasefire

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced in a speech on Friday that, after the ceasefire agreement, Lebanon is on the cusp of a new phase to work on “permanent agreements,” stressing at the same time that direct negotiation with Israel is not a “concession.”

The Lebanese President stressed in a loud speech in which he addressed the Lebanese and Hezbollah without naming it directly, the day after US President Donald Trump announced a ten-day truce between the party and Israel that began to be implemented at midnight last night, that Lebanon is no longer “an arena for anyone’s wars.”

Aoun said on Friday in his first speech after the ceasefire, “But now, we all stand before a new stage. It is the stage of transition from working on a ceasefire, to working on permanent agreements that preserve the rights of our people, the unity of our land, and the sovereignty of our homeland.”

The Lebanese President added, “At this stage, as in the previous one, we are confident that we will save Lebanon, and at the same time we are confident that we will be vulnerable to all attacks for a simple reason, which is that we have regained Lebanon and Lebanon’s decision, for the first time in nearly half a century.”

He continued, “Today we are negotiating for ourselves, and deciding for ourselves. We are no longer a card in anyone’s pocket, nor an arena for anyone’s wars, and we will never return. Rather, we are a state that alone owns its decision, holds it high, and embodies it in deed and word, for the sake of the lives of its people and the good of its children and nothing else.”

In his speech, the Lebanese President thanked “everyone who contributed to achieving the ceasefire, starting with friendly American President Donald Trump” and Saudi Arabia.

On Thursday, Trump announced the truce on his communication platform, “Truth Social,” before later telling reporters that the ceasefire was “a wonderful thing,” noting that Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will meet, most likely at the White House, within the next four or five days.”

The ceasefire came shortly after the ambassadors of Lebanon and Israel in the United States held the first direct talks between the two countries in decades, during which they agreed to hold direct negotiations at a date to be determined later.

Aoun added in his speech that the negotiations with Israel “are not weakness, nor retreat, nor concession. Rather, they are a decision that stems from the strength of our belief in our right, our concern for our people, and our responsibility to protect our homeland by all means, especially from our refusal to die for anyone other than Lebanon.”

He stressed that “negotiations do not mean and will never mean giving up any right, giving up any principle, or compromising the sovereignty of this country.”

He added, “Here I confirm, in the language of the covenant and promise, that there will not be any agreement that affects our national rights, detracts from the dignity of our steadfast people, or wastes an atom of the soil of this country.”

Aoun stressed that “our goal is clear and declared: stopping the Israeli aggression against our land and people, Israeli withdrawal, extending the state’s authority over its entire territory exclusively by its own forces, the return of prisoners, and the return of our people to their homes and villages, granted security, freedom and dignity.”