As Washington pursues a broader regional arrangement linking the Iranian and Lebanese fronts, Israel is increasingly being forced to accept a US-led approach that sidelines many of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s objections. The emerging framework includes a US-backed Lebanon deconfliction mechanism involving Qatar and Pakistan, as well as President Donald Trump’s efforts to draw Damascus into the campaign against Hezbollah.

Former Israeli diplomat Nadav Tamir told Al-Monitor that Netanyahu has long claimed Israel and the United States were coordinating closely on Lebanon, but that Washington is now “advancing its own vision” for resolving the conflict “without taking Netanyahu’s positions into account.”

The Israeli military has effectively observed a ceasefire in southern Lebanon since Sunday, despite Netanyahu’s insistence Monday that military instructions had not changed. Israel also lifted all gathering restrictions in the north, signaling confidence that Hezbollah would refrain from launching attacks in the coming days.

The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States are scheduled to meet Tuesday in Washington for a fifth round of talks focused on disarming Hezbollah and advancing an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. But decisions made during US-Iran talks in Switzerland on Sunday — along with Trump’s suggestion that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa could assume responsibility for confronting Hezbollah — have further narrowed Israel’s room to maneuver.