Lebanese President Aoun lashes out at Iran and Hezbollah as Israeli strikes kill dozens
In a CNN interview, President Joseph Aoun delivered some of his sharpest public criticism yet, accusing Iran and Hezbollah of using Lebanon as a 'bargaining chip' in Tehran's negotiations with Washington and telling the IRGC, 'This is not your country, it is ours.' Aoun rejected Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem's claim to speak for Lebanese, saying even Shia citizens are 'tired' of the war and insisting diplomacy with Israel is the only path. Hezbollah rejected the broad ceasefire framework that Lebanese and Israeli negotiators reached under US mediation in Washington, which conditioned an Israeli pullback on Hezbollah halting attacks and withdrawing north of the Litani River. Israeli strikes across the south continued regardless, killing roughly 21 people in a day, with the Health Ministry putting the toll since March 2 at 3,558 dead and over 10,870 wounded. Speaker Nabih Berri floated a compromise of simultaneous Hezbollah and Israeli withdrawals tied to a full ceasefire.
Why it matters
Aoun, the former army chief elected to break Lebanon's leadership vacuum, is openly challenging Hezbollah's claim to represent the Lebanese state and pursuing direct talks with Israel—an unprecedented rupture that risks internal conflict if Beirut moves to disarm the group. The fighting is an offshoot of the broader US-Israel war on Iran that erupted in late February, with Tehran tying any peace deal to a halt in Lebanon, leaving the country a proxy battlefield. How this plays out will shape whether Lebanon can finally assert sovereign control over its territory and security after decades of Hezbollah's armed dominance.