Lebanon’s internal splits over talks with Israel trip up Saudi mediation efforts

Riyadh’s envoy visits Beirut to bridge differences on approach to Jerusalem, but can’t overcome tension between pro-diplomacy president and Hezbollah-allied parliament speaker

BEIRUT, Lebanon – A growing rift between top Lebanese officials has thrown a wrench into Saudi efforts to help Lebanon’s leaders forge a united position over historic negotiations with Israel, Lebanese sources and foreign officials told Reuters on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia, which sponsored the 1990 agreement that ended Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, has deepened its engagement in recent days with Lebanon, where a shaky US-brokered ceasefire has failed to fully halt the nearly two-month war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

Ties between Riyadh and Beirut had been strained for years due to Hezbollah’s power over Lebanese politics and security, but the Sunni kingdom sees an opening after the group was severely weakened by war with Israel in 2024.

The US intended for the April 16 truce between Israel and Lebanon to allow for direct talks on a peace deal, potentially shaking up Lebanon’s internal dynamics and its role in the region. But Lebanese leaders remain at odds over the negotiation format and ultimate goal.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has defended face-to-face talks with Israel in Washington, and has said the ceasefire should be transformed into “permanent agreements.”

Although he has stopped short of explicitly calling for a peace deal, two sources familiar with Aoun’s position told Reuters he had privately expressed his readiness to normalize ties with Israel to stop the war.

Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, is opposed to direct talks, reflecting the Shiite group’s position. Berri believes Lebanon should seek a non-aggression pact with Israel, but not a full peace deal, two Lebanese sources familiar with his position told Reuters.

Last week, Saudi envoy to Lebanon Prince Yazid bin Farhan visited Beirut to encourage Aoun, Berri and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to set out a single position on the talks and to signal their unity through a tripartite meeting, according to two senior Lebanese political sources who met with bin Farhan and a Western official briefed on the talks.

But plans to hold such a meeting this week were derailed by rising tensions, all three sources said, after Berri publicly accused Aoun of making statements about negotiations that were “inaccurate, to say the least.”

There was no immediate response to requests for comment from Aoun’s office or from the Saudi government media office. Aoun met Salam on Thursday, the presidency said in a statement, without mentioning Berri.

The splits between Aoun and Berri, who hold their positions according to a power-sharing system that divides Lebanon’s top posts by religion, reflect broader divisions within Lebanese society over the negotiations with Israel.

Some Lebanese see direct talks and a swift peace deal as the only way to end a long history of Israeli invasions into Lebanon.

But Hezbollah and much of its broader Shiite Muslim constituency, who have borne the brunt of Israel’s attacks, are firmly opposed to face-to-face talks and to normalizing ties. Some people protesting against talks earlier this month called for the government to be toppled. Like its Iranian patron, Hezbollah seeks to destroy Israel.

Saudi Arabia’s intervention with Lebanese leaders was driven by the risk of such instability – as well as its concern that Lebanon was moving toward peace with Israel too swiftly, according to a Gulf source with knowledge of the matter, two senior Lebanese political sources and the Western official.

Bin Farhan sought and received reassurances that Hezbollah would not seek to topple the Lebanese government, and cautioned Lebanese leaders last week that Beirut’s progress towards peace with Israel should not outpace Saudi Arabia’s, the four sources said.

Riyadh’s longstanding position has been that it will only sign up to the Abraham Accords normalizing ties with Israel if there is agreement on a roadmap to Palestinian statehood.

Saudis keen for Lebanon-Israel ‘detente,’ sources say

US President Donald Trump, keen to expand the accords, said this month he would invite Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House for talks.

Bin Farhan advised Lebanese authorities against Aoun meeting Netanyahu soon, the two senior Lebanese political sources said.

However, Saudi Arabia does want Lebanon to work toward a “detente” with Israel that would halt instability, the Gulf source and one of the Lebanese sources said.

Fighting erupted in Lebanon when Hezbollah began attacking across the border after Israel and the US launched their joint campaign against Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize the regime and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile capacities.

Israel launched massive airstrikes in Lebanon in response to the Hezbollah terror group’s rocket barrages, and launched an operation in southern Lebanon to establish a buffer zone to protect residents of Israel’s north.

Despite the ceasefire, Hezbollah has fired rockets at northern Israeli communities, though most attacks have been on troops in southern Lebanon or on the Israeli side of the border.