President Donald Trump has an opportunity to do something no American president has managed in nearly half a century: end the war between Israel and Lebanon for good.
Washington has already seized the diplomatic initiative, by bringing the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors together in the White House to extend the temporary ceasefire. The high-level attention Washington is directing to Lebanon—including active efforts by the President of the United States to bring both Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese president Joseph Aoun to the White House—delivers a clear signal that Washington sees a win in Lebanon.
If this initiative is to succeed where the Biden administration’s 2024 effort failed and make this the last war between Israel and Lebanon, it must confront two uncomfortable truths that both sides, and Washington, have so far avoided.
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