Lebanon seeks talks with Israel to end fighting

Lebanon's president has called for direct negotiations with Israel as part of a proposal to end the escalating conflict with Hezbollah, while also sharply criticizing the Iran-backed group for dragging the country into a wider regional war.

A spokesman for the president, Joseph Aoun, told the BBC that Lebanon is ready to negotiate, but not while Israeli attacks continue. 

Speaking during a virtual meeting with senior European Union officials on Monday, Aoun outlined what he described as a path towards "permanent agreements for security and stability on our borders."

Israeli officials have shown few signs of being willing to support negotiations, and the government has not yet commented.

According to the Lebanese president's four-point plan, a "complete ceasefire" would coincide with the disarmament of Hezbollah, as well as international assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces to help them regain control of "areas of tension."

"And simultaneously, Lebanon and Israel will begin direct negotiations under international sponsorship, to implement the above-mentioned plan," the statement said.

Aoun has said the war has had a devastating impact on Lebanon, with more than 700,000 people displaced, including 200,000 children, and hundreds killed by Israeli attacks over the past nine days, according to the United Nations.

"Some of them are on the streets. They have no shelter or even the most basic necessities of life," he added.

The president has also made an unusually direct criticism of Hezbollah, accusing the Shiite militia and political movement of acting against Lebanon's national interests.

Referring to Hezbollah as an "armed faction," Aoun has said that it "gives no weight to the interests of Lebanon or the lives of its people," and that it wants "the collapse of the Lebanese state under aggression and chaos."