'Not your country': Joseph Aoun tells Iran to stay out of Lebanon's affairs

BEIRUT/NEW YORK — Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told Iran on Friday to stay out of the country’s affairs and the ongoing conflict with Israel in one of his strongest rebukes of Tehran's role, while a prominent Shiite leader expressed conditional support for Hezbollah pulling back from the south.

Aoun told CNN that Iran is interfering in Lebanon’s affairs as part of its war against the United States.

“It’s not your country. It’s our country … It’s not your job to interfere in our country,” Aoun told the outlet in an interview. “Our people are being killed. Our house is being destroyed. They are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiations with the United States. It’s unacceptable.”

Iranian officials have repeatedly called for Lebanon to be included in any ceasefire agreement with the US and regularly praise Hezbollah for its fight against Israel. 

Addressing Hezbollah, Aoun said the group “must understand” that the only solution is to “sit and talk.”

Aoun appealed to Israel to continue negotiating with Lebanon, acknowledging the security concerns in northern Israel resulting from Hezbollah rocket fire. 

“For the Israeli government, it’s a time for the power of reason to prevail over the reason of power,” he said. “Military solutions will never provide you with security and safety to the northern people.”

The head of state called for hostility between Israel and Lebanon to end "forever," declaring that the people in both countries have a "huge opportunity" to choose diplomacy over war.

Aoun added that Israel must show “willingness” to end the fighting for the sake of people on both sides of the border. 

Aoun has repeatedly said that the Lebanese government is solely in charge of negotiations with Israel to end the hostilities while condemning Hezbollah’s initial attack against Israel on March 2, which triggered the widespread Israeli escalation. 

Last month, the president ordered Lebanese military and security forces to seize illegal weapons in Beirut as part of his government’s efforts to exert state authority over all weapons in the country. 

Meanwhile, footage spread on Lebanese social media purportedly showing clashes between Hezbollah and Amal, another Shiite party that is often aligned with the group, near the southern city of Sidon. The Saudi news outlet Al-Hadath reported that the fighting in the town of Baisariya was the result of a dispute over missile platforms being positioned between houses. 

Aoun did not rule out meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the future, though he clarified that a deal would first need to be reached to end the war. "Not before reaching an agreement," he said.

Local news outlets broadcast footage of the Lebanese military deploying to the area to quell the unrest. 

Al Jadeed and An-Nahar reported that the town's mayor said the clashes were the result of a family dispute and unrelated to Hezbollah and Amal.

Amal leader Nabih Berri, who is also the speaker of Lebanon's parliament, said on Friday that he would agree to Hezbollah pulling back from the south if Israel does the same. In a statement, Berri, who often mediates on behalf of Hezbollah, endorsed "Hezbollah's withdrawal from south of the Litani River in parallel with an Israeli withdrawal from the areas it occupies." 

Why it matters: The developments came amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, despite the announcement of a conditional ceasefire earlier this week. Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Israeli strikes in several southern areas on Friday, including Nabatiyeh, while Hezbollah said it fired at Israeli forces. 

Israel has continued to launch airstrikes against what it says are Hezbollah military elements and infrastructure. The Israeli military accuses the group of hiding and placing its weapons among civilians. 

Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for several recent drone and missile attacks on Israeli troops positioned in southern Lebanon.

Following their fourth round of talks held at the State Department in Washington on Wednesday, Lebanon and Israel agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire hinged on Hezbollah halting its attacks against Israel. The deal called for the creation of "pilot zones" where the Lebanese military would assume total control. 

Berri said the ceasefire should be "comprehensive, without conditions; on land, at sea and in the air; and without bulldozing or destroying existing structures," and called the rest of the agreement "unfair."

Hezbollah also rejected the ceasefire agreement, vowing to continue fighting Israel as long as Israeli attacks persist and its forces remain in Lebanese territory.

Hezbollah's arms struggle will continue “so long as our villages are not safe and are being bombed and destroyed and our people are killed,” Hezbollah’s chief Naim Qassem said in a statement on Thursday, adding that northern Israel “will not be safe.”

Despite the ongoing escalation, the Lebanese military has begun deploying to the southern Lebanese town of Debbine following the Israeli withdrawal on Thursday. 

Iran’s support for Hezbollah continues. The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, said on Thursday, “The Lebanese fighters will soon see the results of their courageous resistance,” and called on Israel to withdraw from areas it occupied during the current war.