Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Lebanon is ready to engage with Israel and will seek US help in pushing for negotiations as President Joseph Aoun had previously offered to discuss land border disputes and Israel’s withdrawal from the areas retained after the war with Hezbollah last year. 

“I repeat the same offer of readiness to negotiate with Israel,” Salam said. 

The prime minister, a former head of the International Court of Justice, said he believes a diplomatic resolution is achievable, pointing to US-mediated talks in 2022, when borders in energy-rich maritime areas were drawn. Now, he says, calls went unanswered. 

“That’s a puzzle for me. They ask for negotiations and when we show readiness they don’t agree to the rendez-vous,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “That’s something I’ll be bringing up with the Americans”. 

A year into a US- and French backed ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah militants, tensions remain high. Israel accuses the government in Beirut of not doing enough to uphold its part in the deal, which requires the army to disarm Hezbollah, designated as a terrorist organization by the US. 

An Israeli strike on Tuesday killed at least 13 people in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, marking one of its deadliest attacks since the truce went into effect.

Salam said plans to demilitarize the south are “on track” and the Lebanese army is expanding its presence there, particularly in areas near the border with Israel. 

In a rare move in August, the government instructed the army to draw a plan to disarm Hezbollah and other militias. The first phase focuses on south Lebanon and should be finalized by the end of the month, Salam said. Beirut and the Bekaa Valley are encompassed in later stages. 

Hezbollah has described the Lebanese army’s plan as a “grave sin” and vowed not to surrender its arms as it accused the government of doing Israel’s bidding. The group also rejected Lebanon’s offer to negotiate with Israel. The two countries are technically in a state of war. 

Israel, the prime minister said, is the one not abiding by the terms of the ceasefire agreement.  

The Israeli army remains in five hilltops spread across the Lebanon’s southern border, which Salam said offer no strategic value, considering modern drones and satellites are equipped with much better monitoring technology.

“These positions have no military or security value. It’s a tool to pressure the Lebanese,” he said. 

For Israel, the five points give it the strategic depth it needs to watch Hezbollah, which it said is seeking to reconstitute itself militarily. It says that’s why Israeli forces continue to strike against the Islamist group.

Though Lebanon’s government says it doesn’t have evidence of Hezbollah’s attempts to rearm, Salam said the army should remain vigilant and has deepened its control of smuggling routes, particularly the border with Syria.