Analysts: Lebanon’s Government Is Abetting Israel’s Southern Campaign
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Lebanon’s government faces criticism for adopting a U.S. State Department memorandum and entering unequal negotiations, which analysts say neutralize resistance and enable Israeli military operations and ethnic cleansing in the south. The campaign includes disarming Hezbollah, criminalizing its activities, and cutting ties with Iran. Observers warn the framework grants Israel unlimited self-defense while denying Lebanon the same, and a key army commander has resisted being used as a proxy force.
The administration of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam faces mounting criticism for being complicit in a political project to appease Israel rather than defend national sovereignty. President Aoun is now dubbed by some Lebanese as “the president of others on our land” — an ironic reversal of his earlier remarks about the resistance.
According to analysts, this campaign aims not only to disarm the resistance but also to erase the liberation struggle heritage integral to Lebanon’s political identity. The first milestone came in August 2025, when the cabinet ordered the army to disarm Hezbollah and destroy seized weapons. By March 2, 2026, the Lebanese government officially criminalized Hezbollah’s military and security activities.
On April 8, Prime Minister Salam announced cutting ties with Iran, removing a diplomatic shield that Tehran had considered a “red line” in talks with Washington. Shortly after, Lebanon entered negotiations with Israel without any bargaining chips, right after Israel carried out massacres of civilians across the country.
The peak came on April 14 and 23, when the Lebanese delegation met the Israeli ambassador in Washington, just as Israel declared a “Security Zone” similar to the “Yellow Line” in southern Lebanon, barring residents from returning to 55 villages and towns, turning about 6% of Lebanese territory into a militarized no-go area. This mirrors Israel’s approach in Gaza, where the original “Yellow Line” expanded into an “Orange Line” controlling nearly two-thirds of the territory.
Analysts note that the April 16 U.S. State Department memorandum, formally adopted by the Lebanese government, legitimizes radical asymmetry. It grants Israel unlimited “self-defense” to attack at any time while stripping Lebanon of any right to self-defense. Notably, the memorandum claims that “the two countries are not at war” despite Israel killing over 2,500 people, wounding more than 8,000, destroying over 50,000 homes, and displacing over 1.2 million people from March 2 to April 22 alone.
Observers argue that this agreement does not bring peace but rather an anti-resistance security framework in which the Lebanese state lends its sovereignty to Israel to continue a colonial war. The clearest evidence is U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement about building “vetted units within the Lebanese Armed Forces” to hunt down Hezbollah on Israel’s behalf.
However, the plan faces a hurdle as Army Commander Rodolphe Haykal refuses to play that role, and the Lebanese government is reportedly seeking to replace him. This highlights the limits of what the Lebanese state can enforce and the depth of Washington’s interference in the country’s internal sovereignty.
