U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said Thursday that the Lebanese government must take responsibility for managing southern Lebanon, and reiterated his criticism of civilian casualties from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, calling them 'unacceptable.' According to Vance, talks sometimes seem on the verge of a breakthrough, but then Israel strikes in Lebanon and many civilians are killed.
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, in remarks published Thursday evening, said the Lebanese government must take responsibility for managing southern Lebanon. He added that negotiations sometimes seem on the verge of a breakthrough, but 'then Israel attacks in Lebanon and many civilians are killed,' calling that cycle 'unacceptable.' The statement deepens a line of criticism Vance first laid out earlier Thursday, when he called civilian deaths in Israeli strikes on Beirut 'unacceptable' and questioned their precision — as The Zioneer reported at 18:48 Jerusalem.
Vance's latest comments follow a sequence of U.S. signals on the Lebanon front. At 10:56 Thursday, The Zioneer reported Vance stating the emerging deal does not mandate an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and affirmed Israel's right to self-defense. That position, alongside the new call for Lebanese government control of the south, suggests the administration is pressing for a framework in which the Lebanese state — not Hezbollah — fills any security vacuum. The broader diplomatic push has been confirmed by Al-Hadath reporting Saturday of U.S. pressure for 'tangible breakthroughs' in the talks.
Background reporting by The Zioneer has traced the widening gap between Jerusalem and Washington: a senior Israeli minister told Channel 12 on Sunday that Israel considers Lebanon its red line, even at the cost of confrontation with the U.S. Meanwhile, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun insisted Wednesday that no settlement will be made at Lebanon's expense and that only the official government holds decision-making authority. Netanyahu updated Trump on Tuesday that Lebanon strikes caused 'light casualties' and that no Hezbollah response was expected.
What remains open is whether the Lebanese state can actually assert control over the south given Hezbollah's entrenched presence, and whether Israel will alter its operational tempo in response to Vance's repeated criticism.
3 developments
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- DevelopingVP Vance: some people 'just want bombing to continue,' regardless of results for Americans
- StrongVP Vance: Iran pledged not to fire at Israel, will sign deal — after Israeli Beirut strike
- StrongUS VP Vance says Netanyahu 'got something wrong,' signals daylight in Washington
Source and signal
- Internal intake