President Joseph Aoun said on Monday that Lebanon’s framework for negotiations with Israel is strictly limited to securing an Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory, implementing a ceasefire, deploying the Lebanese Army along the border, ensuring the return of displaced residents to their villages, and obtaining economic and financial assistance for Lebanon.

Speaking during a meeting with a visiting delegation at the Baabda Palace, Aoun stressed that reports suggesting additional conditions or broader arrangements outside that framework were “false.”

“The framework Lebanon has established for the negotiations is based on an Israeli withdrawal, a ceasefire, the deployment of the Lebanese Army along the border, the return of displaced residents and economic and financial support for Lebanon,” Aoun said. “Anything being discussed beyond that is simply not true.”

The Lebanese president said Beirut had no alternative but to pursue negotiations in an effort to stop the war, arguing that decades of conflict had failed to produce any meaningful outcome for the country.

“Lebanon had no choice except to enter negotiations to stop this war,” he said. “Wars have never brought us any results over the years.”

Aoun said his priority was to end the conflict while minimizing the cost to Lebanon and its population.

“It is my duty, given my position and responsibility, to do everything possible and pursue the least costly path to stop the war against Lebanon and its people,” he said.

The president also pointed to the heavy toll repeated conflicts have taken on the country, questioning whether Lebanon could endure another prolonged confrontation.

“We have lived through wars and seen where they led Lebanon,” Aoun said. “Can anyone still afford the price of another war?”