France’s special envoy for Lebanon said Wednesday it was unreasonable to demand that Beirut disarm Hezbollah while Israeli bombs were falling on Lebanese territory, as Paris simultaneously pushed forward a detailed peace framework it hopes will prevent a large-scale Israeli ground invasion of southern Lebanon — a plan that Lebanon has accepted as a basis for talks but that Israel has rejected and the United States has received without enthusiasm.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, who serves as French President Emmanuel Macron’s personal adviser on Lebanon, told France Info radio that Israel’s expectation of rapid Hezbollah disarmament under bombardment was not operationally realistic.
“Israel occupied Lebanon for a very long time and failed to eradicate Hezbollah’s military capacity. Therefore, they cannot now ask the Lebanese government to do that job in three days under bombardment,” he said, adding that only negotiations would resolve the crisis.
The French framework involves a three-stage process. In the first phase, Lebanon would deploy its armed forces south of the Litani River while Israel withdraws troops from territories captured since the current war began, including the five positions it had held since the November 2024 ceasefire. UNIFIL peacekeepers would verify Hezbollah’s disarmament in the south, while a coalition of countries under a UN Security Council mandate would oversee disarmament in the rest of Lebanon. The second phase would see Lebanon declare its readiness to negotiate a permanent non-aggression agreement with Israel — a document to be signed within two months, formally ending the state of war between the two countries that has technically been in place since Israel’s founding in 1948. The final phase, to be completed by the end of 2026, would demarcate the land border between Israel and Lebanon, and between Lebanon and Syria.
France’s foreign ministry has publicly distanced itself from the detailed version of the plan reported by Axios, saying there is “no French plan” to stop the fighting, while affirming Paris supports Beirut’s openness to direct talks and has offered to host them. “But it is for the parties, and only the parties, to set the agenda for these talks,” the ministry stated. Macron has posted on X that France was ready to facilitate ceasefire discussions in Paris and called on Israel to “seize this opportunity.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot is expected to visit Lebanon shortly, though no date has been confirmed.
Lebanon’s government has accepted the French framework as a basis for discussions, according to sources familiar with the matter. President Joseph Aoun last week offered direct negotiations with Israel for the first time since the 1982 Israeli invasion — a historic concession in a country where any formal engagement with Israel remains deeply polarizing. Lebanon’s negotiating delegation would include Christian, Sunni, and Druze representatives, but Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri — who represents the Shia community and is a close ally of Hezbollah — has declined to participate, believing Israel would offer nothing of substance. Beirut’s precondition remains a ceasefire before talks begin, a position directly at odds with Israel’s requirement that Hezbollah disarm as a precondition for any halt.
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Israel has rejected the French proposals. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Sunday that direct talks were not planned “in the coming days,” and the defense establishment has made clear that the military campaign will continue at increased intensity. Israel has amassed approximately six military divisions along its northern border and the IDF has identified Khiam — the strategic southern Lebanese hilltop town currently encircled by Israeli forces — as the focal point of a planned wider ground push aimed at seizing all territory south of the Litani River. A senior Israeli official told Axios: “We are going to do what we did in Gaza,” a statement that has intensified alarm among Lebanese officials and European governments.
Within Lebanon, the conflict has exposed fractures between communities that were rarely visible in public before. Christian residents of the border town of Qlayaa expelled a pro-Hezbollah local parliamentarian from the funeral of a priest killed in Israeli strikes. Shiite civilians fleeing southern Lebanon have in some cases been denied shelter by other communities afraid of being associated with Hezbollah targets. Hezbollah supporters have in turn accused the Aoun government of treason for offering to negotiate with Israel.
The Taif Agreement that ended the 1975-1990 civil war required all armed groups to disarm; Hezbollah alone retained its weapons, arguing they were needed to resist Israeli occupation. Every subsequent Lebanese government declined to force the issue, fearing exactly the civil strife that is now beginning to surface.
The French diplomatic push is accompanied by concrete material support. Paris announced the delivery of 60 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Lebanon alongside a consignment of armored personnel carriers for the Lebanese Armed Forces, a combination designed to reinforce both Beirut’s negotiating position and its military capability without taking sides in the fighting. A joint statement by France, the UK, Canada, Germany, and Italy issued Monday warned of the “devastating humanitarian consequences” of a significant Israeli ground invasion and called for meaningful engagement between Israel and Lebanese negotiators.
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Lebanese officials are open to discussing border demarcation and possibly some form of neutrality or a non-aggression pact, but not full normalization of relations with Israel, which is “not on the table,” one source familiar with Beirut’s position said. The distinction matters: France’s proposal envisions a permanent peace agreement, while Lebanon’s ceiling, at this stage, falls short of that. The gap between what Israel would accept and what Lebanon is willing to offer is being filled, for now, by ongoing bombing and an advancing ground force.
Lebanon’s death toll has risen to more than 900, with more than a million people displaced — approximately 17 percent of the country’s population. The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health had reported 850 deaths as of Monday, including 107 children and 66 women. Israel has issued evacuation orders covering all areas south of the Litani River, and the southern suburbs of Beirut remain under repeated bombardment.
No ceasefire is in place. No direct Israel-Lebanon talks have been confirmed by either government. French Foreign Minister Barrot’s visit to Beirut has not been given a confirmed date.