Ortagus holds 'constructive' talks with Aoun at start of Lebanon visit

Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus held a “constructive” meeting with President Joseph Aoun on Saturday morning as she kicked off an official visit to Lebanon, the Presidency said.

“Discussions tackled several files, most importantly the situation in the Lebanese south, the Lebanese-Syrian border and the financial and economic reforms for combating corruption,” the Presidency added, revealing that a closed-door meeting was held between Aoun and Ortagus prior to the official meeting.

Ortagus later met with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and is scheduled to meet with Speaker Nabih Berri later in the day.

TV networks also described the meeting between Aoun and Ortagus as positive, with Al-Jadeed TV reporting that the U.S. envoy will also meet with army chief, the central bank governor and a number of ministers and political forces.

Her talks will focus on security and the reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund, Al-Jadeed said.

A senior official told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Friday that Aoun, Berri and Salam would tell Ortagus that Lebanon's priority is the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the five points where they are still deployed in south Lebanon and the cessation of Israeli attacks and violations.

The sticking points between Lebanon and Israel that the U.S. is planning to address include the 5 points still occupied in south Lebanon and the release of Lebanese prisoners who were kidnapped during the war. But Washington also wants to address the remaining disputed points along the Blue Line on the Lebanese-Israeli border, by "bringing together Lebanon and Israel for talks aimed at diplomatically resolving" these issues.

Lebanon, for its part, has refused direct negotiations and its leaders have said many times that Lebanon is not ready for normalizing ties with Israel.

The official said that Lebanon wants the border demarcation to be negotiated through a military and technical committee and not through direct talks, like in 2022 when Lebanese and Israeli leaders separately signed a U.S.-brokered maritime demarcation deal after months of indirect talks.