Lebanon–Israel Peace “Sooner Than Everyone Thinks”: Ortagus Says the Push Comes From the People
A senior American voice on the Lebanon file says the road to peace may be shorter than almost anyone assumes, and that it began in Beirut, not Washington.
The road so far
In a mid-September 2026 interview with The Jerusalem Post, Morgan Ortagus, the former U.S. special envoy for Lebanon, argued that a peace track between Lebanon and Israel is not only possible but could arrive faster than many expect. Washington cannot impose it, she said. Publics on both sides of the border are pushing for it.
She called the moment one of the region’s most consequential and most fragile opportunities in decades. It rests on a changed balance of power after Hezbollah’s weakening, and on step-by-step confidence-building measures that grew out of local demand.
This report runs in two parts. Part I, the journal, sets out the record: how the diplomacy was built, who is carrying it and what still blocks it. Part II, the interview, turns to what Ortagus actually said and how far the evidence supports her case.
The Journal: what the record shows
The framework, the mechanics, the people involved and the obstacles that remain.
From military talks to civilian negotiations
The process began with security coordination and only later widened to civilian issues. After Israel released five Lebanese prisoners in March 2025, Ortagus revived a military mechanism created after the November 2024 cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.[1]
Meetings were kept small and regular. Israeli and Lebanese officers sat face to face in the same room in southern Lebanon, a format built to earn trust through routine contact rather than grand declarations. Over time those channels helped pave the way for civilian negotiations, although Ortagus stressed that the military track remains central to managing risk along the border.[1]
The June 26 framework and its “pilot zones”
That stepwise approach mirrors wider U.S. mediation in 2025–2026, which produced a trilateral framework signed in Washington on June 26, 2026. It envisions Israeli withdrawals from parts of southern Lebanon in parallel with Lebanese Army deployments. The two begin in “pilot zones,” and both are conditioned on Hezbollah’s disarmament and the dismantling of its infrastructure in those areas.[2]
The people carrying the process
Several figures now share the load, from Washington meeting rooms to the towns of southern Lebanon. Filter by country to see who does what.
Morgan Ortagus
As lead envoy on Israeli–Lebanese relations in 2025, she restarted military-to-military contacts after the 2024 ceasefire and pushed for regular, small-group meetings that later fed civilian talks.[1]
Michel Issa
The day-to-day implementer. He visits southern towns and army-held pilot zones, meets community and religious leaders, and presses Hezbollah for concrete disarmament steps.[2] Profile
Marco Rubio
Has hosted Lebanese and Israeli delegations in Washington, endorsed the trilateral framework, and cast the process as a sovereignty project for Lebanon that also serves Israel’s northern security.[3]
Joseph Aoun
Ties recovery and stability to implementing the U.S.-backed framework and disarming Hezbollah in pilot zones, calling it a path to “peace, economic recovery, and a better future.”[1]
Nada Hamadeh Moawad
Has held direct talks with her Israeli counterpart under U.S. auspices, including the September 2026 session that agreed to move toward direct negotiations.[4]
Yechiel Leiter
Took part in the same U.S.-mediated sessions, described as “productive,” which produced agreement to begin direct talks at a mutually agreed time and venue.[4]
What still stands in the way
Despite the optimism, the path is narrow. Four problems stand out. Open each for detail.
Hezbollah has not moved on disarmament
U.S. officials accuse Hezbollah of “not making any steps” toward disarmament. Ambassador Issa has said as much during visits in Lebanon.[2]
The core bargain is untested
Israeli withdrawal matched by Lebanese Army deployment and Hezbollah’s dismantling in the pilot zones has yet to be fully tested on the ground.[2]
The calendar is slipping
A negotiating round expected in September 2026 was pushed to October, with officials stressing that implementation meetings continue in the meantime.[5]
Detainees remain a flashpoint
Prisoner exchanges and confidence-building gestures, including the return of additional Lebanese detainees in early September 2026, have helped. But dozens of Lebanese are still reported to be in Israeli custody, a sensitive issue that can quickly derail momentum.[5]
The Interview: in Ortagus’s words
What she told The Jerusalem Post, and how the evidence lines up with it.
“We’re halfway down the aisle”
Ortagus framed the moment as both promising and precarious. She cautioned that there is still no final deal and that timing remains uncertain. Progress, she said, is real, but the destination is not yet in sight.[1]
“We’re halfway down the aisle.”Morgan Ortagus, The Jerusalem Post, September 2026
The genesis: “It’s now or never”
She insisted the push did not start in Washington. “The genesis came from the Lebanese people saying to me, ‘We have to go for peace. It’s now or never,’” she said, adding that she sees a real chance for a peace agreement and normalization now that Hezbollah’s military and political dominance has been reduced.[1]
In her telling, war fatigue, economic collapse and frustration with Hezbollah’s parallel military authority have fueled calls for the Lebanese state to reassert sovereignty, especially in the south.
A weakened Hezbollah, a reopened field
Ortagus linked that opening to Israel’s 2024–2025 strikes on Hezbollah’s leadership and infrastructure, including the 2024 death of Hassan Nasrallah. In her view, those strikes created space for Beirut to regain agency in politics, the economy and security in areas where Hezbollah had long held sway.[6]
Are the publics really pushing?
Her central claim is that people in both countries are demanding peace. It fits visible currents in 2025–2026. In Lebanon, President Joseph Aoun has publicly tied recovery to implementing the framework. On the Israeli side, the post-2024 security environment has sharpened the focus on a durable northern front, one that prevents a return to large-scale Hezbollah attacks while letting border communities recover.[1]
Official channels appear to be responding. Direct, U.S.-mediated talks between Israeli and Lebanese envoys in Washington in September 2026 were called “productive,” and both sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue.[4] Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Lebanon’s “determined effort to reclaim sovereignty, disarm Hezbollah and dismantle its terrorist infrastructure, and move toward peace.”[3]
Why “sooner than everyone thinks”
The line rests on three intersecting dynamics. Choose one to read it.
Hezbollah’s degraded capabilities after 2024–2025 have reduced its veto over Lebanese state decisions in the south, leaving room for the army and civilian authorities to operate where they previously could not.[1]
Communities along the border, on both sides, have strong incentives to lock in quiet, rebuild their economies and avoid another war. That makes pilot-zone deployments and security coordination politically valuable at the municipal level.[1]
The trilateral framework, regular ambassador-level meetings in Washington and sustained field diplomacy by Ambassador Issa provide a structure that can convert small gains, such as prisoner releases and zone deployments, into larger political steps.[7]
Bottom line
The Ortagus interview captures a rare alignment: a weakened Hezbollah, a Lebanese state trying to reassert control in the south, an Israel seeking a stable northern border, and a U.S. team willing to invest in incremental, verifiable steps.[1]
That does not guarantee a peace treaty, and spoilers remain. But local pressure, a workable framework and continuous diplomacy are why some officials now believe a Lebanon–Israel peace track could advance faster than the region’s recent history would suggest. Whether it does will depend on the pilot zones, and on whether Hezbollah takes the first step.
Note on sourcing. Ortagus’s remarks are quoted as reported by The Jerusalem Post. Background, dates and official statements are drawn from the reports listed below; readers are encouraged to consult the originals.
Sources
- The Jerusalem Post: interview with Morgan Ortagus (Sept 17, 2026)
- L’Orient Today: Michel Issa says Hezbollah “not making any steps in the right direction” (framework, pilot zones, U.S. mediation)
- Arab News Japan: Rubio and the Lebanon–Israel talks (ambassador meetings, U.S. support)
- Ahram Online: Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors hold talks in Washington (Sept 2026)
- UK Fact Check: update of September 4, 2026 (prisoner exchanges, talk schedules)
- Libnanews: Michel Issa, the ambassador who shoves the codes (field reporting in southern Lebanon)
- Ground News: Ortagus is talking about Lebanon, what did she say about Hezbollah? (June 26, 2026 framework)
About Morgan Ortagus
Morgan Ortagus
American diplomat, intelligence analyst and Navy Reserve officer
Ortagus began her career at the Treasury Department and USAID, then served as State Department spokesperson from 2019 to 2021, where she promoted the Abraham Accords. In 2025 she returned to government as deputy special presidential envoy for Middle East peace, met Lebanese President Joseph Aoun that February, and revived the Israeli–Lebanese military channel. She now advises at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
- Born
- July 10, 1982, Auburndale, Florida
- Current role
- Senior policy adviser, U.S. Mission to the UN
- Envoy role
- Deputy special presidential envoy for Middle East peace, until June 15, 2025
- Education
- B.S., Florida Southern College (2005); M.A. Government and MBA, Johns Hopkins (2013)
- Service
- Navy Reserve intelligence officer since 2014; lieutenant commander since April 2025
- Also
- Founder, POLARIS National Security
Writes for Faith & Freedom News (FFN).
About The Author
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