BEIRUT — Lebanon's government this week extended a historic offer of direct negotiations to Israel, proposing to discuss the disarmament of Hezbollah, a group the Lebanese state banned from military activities last week, arrested approximately 50 members of, and then released after the payment of a small fine.

The offer, described by sources familiar with President Joseph Aoun's position as putting "everything on the table," was declined by Israeli and American officials, who noted that Lebanon had been unable to prevent Hezbollah from re-arming throughout 2025, stationing new rockets in southern Lebanon during a period when the Lebanese army had publicly declared full operational control of the area.

"The time has come to decide: will Lebanon stick to declarations or actually act?" Israel's UN ambassador told the Security Council, in remarks that sources said were not intended as an answer to that question.

Israel's Foreign Minister said his government was ready for dialogue to normalize ties with Lebanon, adding that "the current problem is that dialogue with the Lebanese government cannot stop the fire from Lebanese territory" — a formulation officials described as expressing enthusiasm for the concept of negotiations while declining to have them.

The offer follows a sequence of diplomatic and security arrangements dating to November 2024, when a US-French brokered ceasefire required Israeli withdrawal and Hezbollah disarmament. Israel continued near-daily strikes. Hezbollah re-armed. In December 2025, Israel and Lebanon held their first direct talks in decades at the UN peacekeeping headquarters in Naqoura, after which Israel struck southern Lebanon within 24 hours. The ceasefire monitoring committee expressed optimism.

A Lebanese official said that when Beirut reached out to Washington this week, US officials responded that 2025 had been the window to confront Hezbollah and, as the window had now closed, there was nothing to be done. Three people familiar with US policymaking told Reuters that Washington had limited bandwidth for Lebanon given its ongoing war with Iran, and was allowing Israel to manage the situation as it saw fit.

The Carnegie Middle East Center's Michael Young, asked to assess Lebanon's negotiating position, told Reuters: "Lebanon cannot deliver. And I understand that."

President Aoun, a former army commander who took office in early 2025 on a pledge to disarm Hezbollah, continued his diplomatic calls from the presidential palace on Monday. Government officials said the delegation he had begun assembling for direct talks remained available at short notice.

Hezbollah, whose military activities are now illegal under Lebanese law, said the offer of direct talks with Israel was "a concession and a big mistake" and that the state "cannot make any promises without the resistance's approval."

Israel did not respond to requests for comment. The ceasefire monitoring committee is expected to meet again.