LevantTime .

The fourth round of direct Lebanese-Israeli negotiations convened Tuesday evening at the U.S. State Department in Washington, under American auspices, as tensions remained high in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli army continues its military operations and presses further north of the Litani River. The Lebanese-Israeli talks, in which former Lebanese ambassador Simon Karam is participating on the Lebanese side, are set to resume Wednesday in the American capital. On the military front, Israeli aircraft carried out a series of airstrikes throughout Tuesday and into the evening, targeting positions as well as weapons and ammunition depots in several villages across the districts of Tyre, Bint Jbeil and Nabatiyeh. The cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh were not spared. By the end of the day, the Israeli army reported the presence of “dozens of Hezbollah militiamen” who had reportedly retreated into Tyre’s Christian quarter.

The suspense of the day on Monday, June 1st, centered this time on the fate of the southern suburbs, which had experienced the past twenty-four hours under the threat of imminent Israeli bombardments. Late in the evening, President Donald Trump announced the conclusion of an agreement providing for a halt to Hezbollah fire against Israel in exchange for a suspension of Israeli bombing of the southern suburbs, which was about to be carried out. The White House chief made this announcement on his social network Truth Social, indicating that he had held a "very productive" conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In an allusion to the raid that appeared imminent against the southern suburbs, he indicated that "no troops will go to Beirut, and the forces that were on their way have turned back."

The past week was marked by failed attempts to reach an agreement protocol between Washington and Tehran, amid contradictory statements. Between Lebanon and Israel, a clear military escalation was recorded on the ground, accompanied by significant Israeli advances that reportedly crossed the Litani River. The recent days in the Middle East have been characterized by a statement made by U.S. President Donald Trump the previous weekend about the imminent conclusion of an agreement protocol between the United States and Iran, which would pave the way for 60 additional days of negotiations and allow for lifting the blockade on Iranian ports and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Yet the optimism displayed by the American president on more than one occasion has had no effect: the week ends without any notable progress, and all options remain on the table, including another round of violence.

Negotiations and dialogue in Washington, conflict and airstrikes in Lebanon. Saturday, May 30 was marked by an intervention from Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who condemned Israeli airstrikes, while the Pentagon assured that discussions between Israeli and Lebanese military officials in Washington on Friday, May 29 had been "constructive." In a televised address, Nawaf Salam argued that Israel's "scorched earth policy" and "collective punishment" would bring it neither security nor stability. Following new Israeli-Lebanese discussions at the Pentagon, as the Israeli military continues to advance deep into Lebanese territory, Salam nonetheless defended the continuation of negotiations with Israel. These constitute "the least costly path" for Beirut, emphasized the head of government.

The scenario from last weekend repeated itself on this Friday, May 29th. The media and public opinion experienced another roller coaster ride regarding American-Iranian negotiations mediated by Pakistan, aimed at ending the war situation that began on February 28th, as a prelude to bilateral talks on the major issues fueling the conflict between the United States and the Islamic Republic. As was the case last weekend, a wave of optimism swept through Friday afternoon, with reports of an imminent official announcement of a 'framework agreement' between Washington and Tehran. President Donald Trump was expected to publicly announce that he was lifting the naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports and that he was preparing to hold a meeting at the White House with his team of senior officials and advisors to 'make a final decision' regarding the emerging framework agreement.

Lebanese citizens, and the peoples of the Levant region more broadly, apparently must resign themselves to being regularly subjected to a rollercoaster of developments regarding the Iranian conflict. On Thursday afternoon, reports from the American website Axios indicated that a framework agreement had been concluded between US and Iranian negotiators. The same sources claimed that a copy of this memorandum of understanding had been transmitted to the White House and that President Donald Trump had requested "a few days of reflection" before endorsing the text. A few hours later, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards appeared eager to "facilitate" the task for the American president by emphasizing, through the Tasnim agency which reflects their viewpoint, that no agreement has yet been reached between Americans and Iranians.

Wednesday, May 27 ended with two developments that offer little cause for optimism: during an expanded meeting of his ministerial team, President Donald Trump emphasized that he "is not satisfied with what Iran is proposing" for the memorandum of understanding currently being negotiated between the two countries; at the same time, the Israeli military was recording a "first" by asking residents Wednesday evening to evacuate "all of South Lebanon" and retreat "north of the Zahrani River", a few kilometers south of Sidon! The overall political climate began to turn red in the middle of the day following reports from Iran's official television regarding the content of the draft memorandum being discussed between American and Iranian negotiators, through Pakistani mediators. Iranian television, widely picked up by the media, thus reported having obtained "a draft of an initial unofficial framework agreement for a protocol agreement with the United States".

On this Monday, May 25, the mood was a far cry from Saturday’s apparent enthusiasm over what had been described as an imminent regional breakthrough, driven by an Iranian-American statement of intent expected to kick-start a second round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran. To be sure, talks have picked up pace, with the various parties involved in mediation reporting progress. Yet, as the saying goes, the devil is in the details – and those details remain many. As of Monday, officials are still only speaking of a deal that “could be concluded in the coming days.” On Saturday, Washington and Tehran had presented it as almost imminent.

The first draft of the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran that was leaked to the press and media on Saturday evening sparked widespread outrage on Sunday. Many Republican senators, including several heavyweight members of Congress, as well as analysts, commentators, and influential circles warned against the serious geopolitical consequences of this proposal. Some did not hesitate to denounce on social media what they unanimously called a 'capitulation of the United States to the Islamic Republic of Iran'. Did this outcry and these warnings coming from all sides online push President Trump to apply serious brakes to the approval process for the memorandum, or did the White House chief realize that certain clauses were indeed unacceptable and detrimental to the credibility of the United States as a superpower?

American President Donald Trump stated a few days ago that the Iranian regime has been "pulling the wool over our eyes (the United States and the Western world) for 47 years." One could reasonably add that in the current context, it is essentially public opinion in several Levantine countries that is being misled, particularly given the flood of information on Saturday about the imminence of a "memorandum of understanding" between Washington and Tehran, from which it appears, at least judging by the leaks to the media, that President Trump seems to have essentially given in to Iran's main conditions.