Israel-Lebanon Leaders' Meeting Appears Canceled: "Lebanese President Refuses"

Yonhap News Agency

U.S. President Donald Trump’s anticipated meeting between the leaders of Israel and Lebanon appears not to have materialized.

On April 16 (local time), Lebanese President Joseph Aoun issued a statement saying he had spoken by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but reportedly made no mention of any contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In this regard, Lebanon’s LBCI television reported that President Aoun had conveyed to Secretary Rubio his final decision not to hold a phone conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Foreign media outlets, citing multiple Lebanese officials, also reported that President Aoun had informed the U.S. side through the Lebanese embassy in Washington that he would not speak with the Israeli prime minister. Additionally, he is said to have made clear that he has no intention of contacting Prime Minister Netanyahu in the near future.

According to Qatar’s Alarabi TV, Secretary Rubio called President Aoun and tried to persuade him to speak with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but ultimately failed to change his position.

Earlier that day, President Aoun had emphasized in a statement that a ceasefire must be achieved first before direct negotiations with Israel could take place.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military continued its heavy airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon that day, resulting in 11 deaths and destroying the only bridge over the Litani River. Prime Minister Netanyahu, in a video message the previous day, said that strikes against Hezbollah were ongoing and announced that he had ordered the security zone in southern Lebanon to be expanded toward the Syrian border.

The previous day, President Trump posted on Truth Social that there had been no dialogue between the leaders of Israel and Lebanon for 34 years, calling the planned meeting the next day “a wonderful thing.” He explained that the purpose was to create an opportunity to ease tensions between the two countries.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.