Vance explains the American "crisis management" strategy in Lebanon: Security for Israel.
JD Vance reveals Washington's strategy in Lebanon, which is based on "crisis management" rather than resolving it. The US focuses on securing Israel and reining in Hezbollah by pressuring Iran, in exchange for granting Lebanon a geographically and militarily "conditional sovereignty."
The nature of the ceasefire and the coordination mechanism:
"As Trump said, sometimes a ceasefire means you just shoot each other a little bit less. But we wanted to make sure that we got the right coordination in place so that if there is shooting—if Hezbollah fires into Israel, or if Israel responds—we're actually talking to each other and figuring out how to shut it down."
Field violations and individual actions:
"Sometimes a lower-level person, with a relatively low rank, launches a drone without authorization from higher leadership. Of course, the Israelis have to respond to that, but we can get to a more peaceful place if the Israeli response happens in the context of ongoing conversations between Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israel, and other regional partners."
Assessment of the field situation over the past 72 hours:
"Over the last 24 hours, it's probably been the most peaceful and quiet in Lebanon. The 24 hours before that were very good. Of course, 72 hours ago, there was some shooting. It's a work in progress."
The stance on the Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon:
"The Israelis have been very clear that they don't have territorial ambitions in southern Lebanon. The reason they felt the need to be there is because they were worried about Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon firing into Israel."
The equation of sovereignty and security:
"We do believe, of course, it's going to require a lot of hard work, that we can get to a place where Lebanon's territorial integrity and sovereignty is protected, Israel's security is protected, and that's going to require some coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces, and also it's going to require the Iranians to rein in Hezbollah."
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