The three-way US-Israel-Lebanon deal, agreed and signed on June 26, brings clarity to what has been ​the ​somewhat obscure situation ​produced by ​the US–Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), agreed on June 17.

It ​has certainly seemed that, when it comes to Lebanon, US President Donald Trump and Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu were pulling in somewhat different directions.

The published text of the MoU states that the US, Iran “and their respective allies involved in the current conflict” declare an “immediate and lasting cessation of military actions across all fronts, including Lebanon.”  Opening a 60day window for negotiating a fuller agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, the MoU declares a ceasefire, implicitly including Israel and Hezbollah in the truce.

But neither Israel nor Hezbollah had been involved in negotiating the agreement, which embodies the fantasy that the US and Iran ​completely control their “respective allies”.  They ​do not, and for the US to​ have assume​d ​it could take Israel for granted was presumptuous.  Although ​Israel could scarcely be considered bound by its terms, ​it has chosen to abide by the MoU, though not abdicating the right to defend itself against any breach of the ceasefire by Hezbollah.

For its part, Iran has been unable to restrain Hezbollah, which has ignored the MoU and mounted a whole series of armed assaults on the IDF.  There have been at least two major, lethal Hezbollah attacks since the MoU was signed, with five Israeli soldiers killed (four in a tank strike on June 18, and one in a drone strike on June 20), plus several additional nonfatal attacks.  For example, a Hezbollah explosivedrone attack........

© Eurasia Review