Beirut ¨C A security deal between Israel and Lebanon risks entrenching a stalemate rather than resolving Israel¡¯s underlying conflict with Hezbollah by tying Israel¡¯s pullout from southern Lebanon to the Iran-aligned group¡¯s disarmament, a condition regional analysts and politicians say is unattainable.
At its core is a bargain few see as workable: Hezbollah has flatly rejected disarmament, and no Lebanese government has the power to enforce it.
With Hezbollah unlikely to disarm, analysts say Israel has political cover to keep ?an open-ended military presence in southern Lebanon, which it invaded after Hezbollah fired at Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Tehran over the war in Iran.
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