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Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-900704
Mutual Israel-Lebanon Recognition Follows Decline in Hizbullah's Power
(Jerusalem Post) Zvika Klein - The first clause of the Trilateral Framework, signed on June 26, states that Israel and Lebanon recognize each other as sovereign neighbors with the right to live in peace, and commit to ending the state of war between them. A Lebanese government has not put that on paper since 1983. In the 2022 maritime agreement, American officials shuttled between two rooms precisely so that the Lebanese side would never have to acknowledge Israel. This time, both governments signed in one room. What actually holds the agreement together is that Hizbullah is broken. For 20 years, the party sold its own community the idea that the resistance kept them safe and the Lebanese state did not. The war that started in February buried that idea. Hizbullah took heavy casualties and the Shia south is rubble. People who once saw the weapons as protection now look at them and see the reason their towns are flattened. None of it is safe yet. Can Tehran rearm Hizbullah before Beirut disarms it? Last time, Iran was rebuilding a confident proxy inside a state that let it happen. This time, the proxy is broken, and the state has signed its name to the other side.