Beirut – Lebanon’s president delivered a searing rebuke to Iran on Friday, accusing it of exploiting his war-torn nation as a bargaining chip in its conflict with the United States and Israel and demanding that Tehran stops interfering in Lebanese affairs. In a rare and exclusive interview at the presidential palace in Beirut, President Joseph Aoun told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the Lebanese people are “fed up” of war between Israel and Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed militant group and political force seen as a state within a state in Lebanon.
The president spoke with CNN as the ceasefire with Israel hangs in the balance, with his small nation once again entangled in one of the most serious regional conflicts between Iran and Israel. Addressing Iran, he said, “You are not trying to help us … the people of Lebanon are paying the price … for the sake of your own interest,” adding, “our interests … do not coincide with your interests.”
He also turned his fire on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s elite military force, saying, “It’s not your country, it’s our country.” Aoun rejected a Wednesday statement by the Revolutionary Guards, demanding Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon as part of a US-Iranian ceasefire agreement. “They are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with US,” he said. “It’s unacceptable.”
Israel and Lebanon reached an agreement on Wednesday to implement a ceasefire, but it remains contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the full withdrawal of all Hezbollah operatives from southern Lebanon. “It was a tough negotiation until we had a major breakthrough,” Aoun said, adding that the agreement could be a path forward to a “just and lasting peace.”
Hezbollah, which wasn’t part of the agreement, rejected the deal on Wednesday, saying it does not guarantee an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun also said that Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem doesn’t represent the Lebanese people, in a rare public criticism of the Iran-backed Shiite militant leader a day after he rejected a shaky ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel. Directly addressing Qassem, he said in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, “the Lebanese people are not your people.” In a statement on Thursday, Qassem slammed the Lebanon-Israel talks as a “surrender,” saying the resulting truce was rejected in its “entirety by broad segments of the Lebanese people.” Aoun said he spoke to Lebanese people across different religious sects, including Shiites, who have told him they are “fed up” with Hezbollah’s war with Israel.
“They deserve not seeing their homes destroyed every five to 10 years,” Aoun said, adding that the Lebanese people are counting on him to end the war. Weakened by decades of foreign meddling, sectarian strife, and regional wars, Lebanon under Aoun has pledged to tackle the daunting task of disarming Hezbollah in an effort to dismantle the group’s immense domestic influence and halt Israel’s military advances. Yet, Aoun and the Lebanese military have so far failed to disarm Tehran’s powerful proxy. The group was formed in the 1980s with Iran’s backing and training to fight against Israeli presence in southern Lebanon, but has since grown into a formidable armed group with significant political power and domestic support. Aoun said entire families have been “wiped out” from Israeli attacks, showing pictures of Lebanese civilians who have been killed during the war. “They are Lebanese people. They are not Naim Qassem’s people,” he said.
