Lebanon’s president defends Lebanon-Israel framework agreement

Lebanon’s president defends Lebanon-Israel framework agreement Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has pushed back against criticism of the country’s ceasefire framework with Israel signed last week in Washington after Hezbollah supporters took to the streets in protest against the agreement. “Lebanon’s problem is with Israel, and it is a sovereign state that decided to negotiate on its own behalf,” Aoun is reported as saying by Lebanon's National News Agency, adding that “it has not relinquished its legal, political or field principles in the framework agreement, as some are claiming.” The framework was criticised by Hezbollah for not making the withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupying southern Lebanon contingent on the disarmament of Hezbollah. The president warned that “discord is forbidden” and discouraged people from taking to the streets in an address delivered to delegations from the Lebanese bar association and economic bodies. Signing ceremony of a trilateral framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon mediated by the US at the US Department of State in Washington, DC, on 26 June 2026 (Saul Loeb/AFP)