File photo- Ambassador Simon Karam, was named by president Joseph Aoun to lead the negotiations with Israel
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun named former Lebanese ambassador to Washington Karam to head the negotiations, and said the talks will be “separate from any other negotiations”, in reference to U.S.-Iran diplomacy to end the wider Middle East war.
He also said Monday that planned talks with Israel aim to end “hostilities” and the Israeli occupation in the south, as he named ex-ambassador Simon Karam to lead a delegation.
“The choice to negotiate aims to stop hostilities, end the Israeli occupation of southern regions and deploy the (Lebanese) army all the way to the internationally recognized southern borders” with Israel, Aoun said in a statement.
A man flashes the V-for-victory sign outside his destroyed house as displaced residents return to the southern Lebanese village of Srifa, April 19, 2026. (AFP Photo)
“Lebanon faces two choices — war or negotiations. I have chosen negotiations, and I am fully hopeful that we can save Lebanon,” Aoun said.
Aoun revealed that talks are ongoing with U.S. President Donald Trump who had intervened with Israel to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon. Aoun said Trump initiated a negotiating track and communications with him are ongoing to maintain the truce and launch the talks.
MTV reported Monday that a bilateral meeting between Trump and Aoun is in the works and will be held soon.
Karam is a Lebanese lawyer who served as the ambassador of Lebanon to the United States of America between 1992 and 1993. He also served as the mohafez (governor) of Bekaa in 1990 and mohafez of the capital Beirut in 1991
Karam was part of the Qornet Shehwan movement and was one of the Lebanese leaders who supported the implementation of the Taif accords and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
He was close to the Lebanese journalist and politician Gebran Tueni who was assassinated in December 2005. Both Hezbollah and the Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad were accused of being behind his assassination
France24/ AFP
