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Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-899750
Diplomacy Cannot Be a Substitute for Security
(Jerusalem Post) Editorial - The U.S.-Iran understanding calls for an end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon. Previous understandings among Israel, Lebanon, and the U.S. reportedly conditioned a ceasefire on Hizbullah withdrawing from southern Lebanon and disarming, with the Lebanese Armed Forces entering designated areas as the IDF withdrew. That was the correct direction: strengthen the Lebanese state, weaken Hizbullah, and separate Lebanon's future from Tehran's agenda. By placing Lebanon inside the Iran track, the U.S.-Iran framework effectively ties Hizbullah's fate to Tehran's leverage. That is precisely the danger: Israel's northern border becomes another bargaining chip in a deal whose central parties are not the people who live under Hizbullah's rockets. Israel should support any serious effort to turn Lebanon into a sovereign state capable of enforcing its own territory. But hope is not a security mechanism. A ceasefire that leaves Hizbullah armed, politically emboldened, and protected by Iranian patronage is not a solution. Israel cannot accept less than dismantling Hizbullah.