Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said Wednesday, September 30, that stability in Lebanon requires both “ending the [Israeli] occupation” and the “handover of Hezbollah’s weapons.” He paired the demand about Hezbollah’s arms with a call to end what he described as the Israeli occupation. He also urged Iran to stop interfering in Lebanese affairs.
Raggi’s stated terms for stability
Raggi named two measures in his statement: ending the occupation and handing over Hezbollah’s weapons. He offered no further details about the weapons, how a handover would take place, or any timetable. He didn’t identify the territory he called occupied, either. The two demands appeared together in his account of what Lebanon needs for stability.
The Lebanese foreign minister also said, “We want peace with all our neighbours, and we stress the need for Iran to stop interfering in our affairs.” His statement joined a call for peace with neighboring countries to an explicit demand about Iran’s role in Lebanon. Raggi didn’t cite specific instances of Iranian interference in the quoted remarks.
Negotiations and displaced people
Raggi said Lebanon is committed to direct, U.S.-sponsored negotiations, calling them “the only way to reclaim our land and secure the return of the displaced.” He presented talks as the path to two stated goals: reclaiming land and enabling displaced people to return. The statement didn’t name the parties expected to participate, beyond describing the negotiations as direct and U.S.-sponsored.
No proposed negotiating schedule appeared in the remarks. Raggi also didn’t say whether talks had been arranged. His words expressed Lebanon’s commitment to that approach, not a report that negotiations had begun. The statement gave no figures for displaced people and didn’t specify where they were displaced from or where they would return.
Statement reported in live blog
Middle East Eye published the statement in a live-blog entry about the war on Iran. The entry appeared at 17:54 BST on Wednesday, September 30. The report attributes the remarks to Raggi and provides no additional comments from Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, or the United States.
The statement calls for an end to the Israeli occupation and demands that Hezbollah hand over its weapons. It also records Raggi’s appeal for Iran to stop interfering in Lebanon’s affairs and his support for direct, U.S.-sponsored negotiations. The account doesn’t explain how the demands concerning occupation and Hezbollah’s weapons would be addressed together, nor does it describe a response from the other parties. Raggi’s quoted position is limited to the conditions and commitments he stated: peace with Lebanon’s neighbours, an end to Iranian interference, the recovery of land, the return of displaced people, and negotiations under U.S. sponsorship.