Deputy Jamil al-Sayyed has called for Lebanon to pursue international alternatives, arguing that the U.S.-brokered framework agreement has failed and that Washington cannot constrain Israel.
MP Jamil al-Sayyed on X outlined what he described as a viable solution to Lebanon's current predicament, centering on President Joseph Aoun's stance toward the framework agreement signed in Washington.
Al-Sayyed recalled that President Aoun had previously defended the agreement, urging patience and suggesting that if it did not work, Israel rather than Lebanon would be responsible for its failure. However, al-Sayyed argued that Israel has not only breached the accord but has never adhered to it at all since its signature, implementing none of its terms.
He questioned whether President Aoun would declare the framework agreement dead, thereby freeing Lebanon from what al-Sayyed characterized as a constraint that has made the country entirely subject to Israeli will, and whether other options exist.
Al-Sayyed acknowledged the standard argument that no alternative exists except for armed groups to disarm, which would prompt Israeli withdrawal. He rejected this, noting that Israel's leadership publicly and repeatedly declares that it will never leave parts of southern Lebanon, Gaza, or southern Syria, despite having flattened villages and displaced their populations, regardless of whether any neighboring state's armed groups surrender their weapons.
In proposing alternatives, al-Sayyed called for continued engagement but without "placing all Lebanese eggs in the American basket," given that Washington is unable to control or bind Israel to anything.
He urged Lebanon, together with Arab and European allies and others, to approach the UN Security Council directly as a sovereign state with recognized borders, demanding a resolution that strengthens and deploys international emergency forces under Chapter VII in the south to the international boundary, paired with Israel's complete withdrawal without conditions or obstacles.
Al-Sayyed clarified that this proposal would grant the international forces, operating under Chapter VII, combat authority in the south alongside the Lebanese army to prevent any military activity originating from Lebanese territory.
Once those forces deploy and Israel withdraws to the international boundary without conditions, residents would return to all villages and a comprehensive reconstruction and development program would begin in the damaged southern regions, he said.
Al-Sayyed concluded that such a solution requires state institutions, particularly their leadership, to free themselves from constraints imposed by or from fear of external pressure or pursuit of foreign interests and positions. Otherwise, he argued, Lebanon will remain subject to "humiliation and extortion" indefinitely, asserting that solutions to existential national questions can only be crafted by leaders who are free, not those beholden to or fearful of foreign powers.
