The Blogs: Why Lebanon is so critical in the present peace negotiations

Residents gather near charred cars and buildings, at the site of Wednesday’s Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) (Times of Israel)

I received an email from a friend in the United Sates this week saying that Israel’s war in Lebanon had not received much publicity in the American press. Since I was surprised, I tried to explain it to her. It occurred to me that others may may not understand this issue, so I decided to write this blog.

There are several facts which dominate all others in considering this issue.
1. Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting each other in Lebanon for over 20 years.
2. Hezbollah (the army of God) is an Iranian proxy. Like Iran, it is a Shia, Muslim, terrorist organization. Over the years, Iran has funded Hezbollah with Billions of dollars and roughly 200,000 missiles.
3. The day after the October 7th massacre, Hezbollah began firing missiles into northern Israel IN SUPPORT OF HAMAS. Eventually, it started using missiles which had a much longer range. I have spent hours in my safe room in Tel Aviv listening to the IDF using Iron Dome to intercept missiles being fired at me. The present war in Lebanon is a direct result of Hezbollah firing missiles at people in Israel.

Below is a chronology of how Israel got to where it is with respect to Hezbollah.
From the day of its inception, Israel has been fighting the countries around it, which were trying to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. It had to do so in 1948, 1967 (a war which Israel won in six days,) and in 1973. The leading countries in these wars were Egypt and Jordan. After the 1967 war, the United Nations asked Israel and the Arab countries to enter into peace negotiations under United Nations Resolution (UNSCR) 242. Israel agreed to do so. The Arab League (a union of the Arab countries, including Egypt) unanimously issued its famous response: no recognition, no negotiations, no peace.

They were NOT kidding about no peace. In 1973, the same Arab countries which had tried to wipe Israel off the face of the earth before, tried it a third time. Again Israel, this time with substantial support from the United States, won the war. Having lost three wars, the President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, broke with the Arab League and came to Jerusalem saying he wanted peace. That led to a peace treaty in 1980 in which Egypt and Israel agreed to recognize each other and exchange ambassadors. That treaty has brought Israel and Egypt 45 years of peace with each other.

A key provision of that treaty is that the Sinai would be demilitarized so that neither Egypt nor Israel could attack the other with tanks.

This was not the first time that Israel had tried to establish a buffer zone between itself and its enemies. Previously, the IDF forced the PLO back across the Jordan river, thereby creating a neutral zone between Israel and the PLO. What Israel had NOT anticipated was that Jordan did NOT want the PLO either, and drove the PLO into Syria, from which it went to Lebanon, which borders Israel. Once again Israel had no buffer zone. That led to what Israelis call the First Lebanon War. That war only ended in 1982 when US Secretary of State George Shultz got the PLO to move to Tunisia

It was then that Hezbollah was formed. By the early 2000s Hezbollah increasingly fired missiles into northern Israel, especially at a town called Kiryat Shemona. In 2006, Israel attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon. To Israeli’s great surprise, Hezbollah fought Israel to a draw. Then the UN again got involved passing UNSC 1701, which is critical to understanding the present war in Lebanon. The 2006 war is known in Israel; as the Second Lebanon War.

For the following to make sense, it is necessary to understand the geography of Lebanon. Because the route of the Litani River is crucial to understanding the present war, below is a map of Lebanon which shows the route of the Litani River, which turns west and flows into the Sea.

After the 2006 war, the United Nations entered the fray by passing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. Under UNSC 1701, the Litani River is to be the boundary beyond which Hezbollah cannot have weapons. The Lebanese government was to enforce UNSC 1701. Unfortunately, the Lebanese army has failed to do so. .

Ever since the October massacre, Hezbollah has been shooting missiles at Israel from south of the Litani River in support of Hamas. Finally, Israel got fed up with Hezbollah and the Lebanese army and decided to enforce the provisions of UNSC 1701 itself. It was been wildly successful in this regard, doing enormous damage to Hezbollah, including killing its leadership. In the last year, Iran has spent large sums of money in order to support and rearm Hezbollah, so that it can retain its strength.

On Friday April 10, 2026, Iran announced that it would no longer participate in peace negotiations with the United States, unless the United States agreed as a precondition that its peace agreement with Iran would include the war in Lebanon. If the United Stats agrees to that, it will give Iran more time to re-arm Hezbollah. Since Donald Trump does NOT seem to care about Israel at all, I suspect he will give in on Iran’s demand.