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Nabih Berri puts Amal at centre of Lebanon ceasefire push
https://apnews.com/author/fadi-tawil
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ANALYSIS

Nabih Berri puts Amal at centre of Lebanon ceasefire push

Nabih Berri, Lebanon's parliament speaker and Amal Movement leader, has become the key intermediary in attempts to turn a fragile Israel-Lebanon ceasefire track into a wider settlement. Ali Hamdan, an adviser to Berri, said Berri had conveyed that Hezbollah would accept a comprehensive ceasefire if Israel also stopped attacks by land, air and sea. Lebanon's president and prime minister, by contrast, are trying to separate Lebanese decision-making from Iran's regional bargaining and restore state authority over war and peace. Amal matters because it is not simply Hezbollah's junior partner: it is the older Shia political machine, embedded in parliament and patronage networks, with a history of both rivalry and alliance with Hezbollah. Berri's leverage now rests on whether he can translate Hezbollah's demands into terms acceptable to Israel, Washington and the Lebanese state without deepening Lebanon's sovereignty crisis.

Belgium Impulse Editorial·11 June 2026·3 min read·7 sources
Key signal

For Belgian readers, this is mainly an international security story, not a local Belgian story. It matters to Lebanese-Belgian families, Belgian citizens with relatives in Lebanon, aid groups, diplomats and businesses watching Middle East risk. It also matters in Brussels because EU institutions help shape sanctions, humanitarian funding and crisis diplomacy for Lebanon. The practical question is whether a Lebanese state actor can mediate with Hezbollah, or whether Iran-Israel dynamics keep overriding Lebanese politics.

The Amal Movement (Lebanese Shia party founded in 1974 by Musa al-Sadr's Movement of the Deprived) is an older Shia political force than Hezbollah. Nabih Berri (Amal leader and Lebanese parliament speaker since 1992) is the party's central power broker. Hezbollah (Iran-backed Lebanese Shia party and armed group founded in the early 1980s) is Amal's ally and rival. Musa al-Sadr (Iranian-born Lebanese Shia cleric who disappeared in Libya in 1978) gave Amal its original social base. Joseph Aoun (Lebanon's president and former army commander) and Nawaf Salam (Lebanon's prime minister and former International Court of Justice president) represent the state side of the sovereignty debate. Ali Hamdan (Berri adviser) has relayed Berri's ceasefire position. Naim Kassem (Hezbollah leader after Hassan Nasrallah's 2024 killing) is the armed group's current political voice. UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006 Lebanon war settlement text) frames the demand for state control south of the Litani River, a strategic river in southern Lebanon. The IRGC is Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Background

Amal emerged from Shia marginalisation before Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war and became a major militia before evolving into a parliamentary machine. Hezbollah grew later, partly from more Islamist currents that split from Amal after Israel's 1982 invasion. The two movements fought each other in the late 1980s before settling into a durable alliance. The Taif Agreement of 1989 sought to end militia rule, while UN Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted after the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, called for no armed authority in southern Lebanon other than the Lebanese state and UNIFIL. Those provisions remain central because Hezbollah never became only a civilian party.

The wider picture

Amal's role shows how local Lebanese politics are being pulled into the wider Iran-Israel contest. Tehran's influence over Hezbollah gives Iran leverage beyond its borders, while Israel's objective is to remove the northern threat. The United States is trying to keep the Lebanon track from derailing broader regional bargaining, and the EU is left managing consequences rather than driving the talks.

Why now

The immediate trigger is the latest ceasefire push after renewed fighting in Lebanon and reported U.S. contacts through Berri's circle. The Al Jazeera lead is timely because Amal's role becomes more visible whenever negotiators need a Shia political channel that is not formally Hezbollah.

OIS Intelligence

What to watch

Watch whether Berri publicly secures amendments on Israeli withdrawal, displaced residents and reconstruction; whether Hezbollah's leadership repeats or narrows its ceasefire conditions; and whether Lebanon's president and prime minister keep insisting on state control over negotiations. Further Israeli strikes or Hezbollah attacks would quickly change the diplomatic calculus.

Opposing perspectives

  1. Lebanese presidency and government

    Lebanon's president and prime minister frame the crisis as a sovereignty test: decisions on war, peace and negotiation should be made by Lebanese state institutions, not by Iran, Hezbollah or any separate regional track. Their strongest argument is that diplomacy is the only route to preserve what remains of Lebanon's territory, population safety and reconstruction prospects.

  2. Hezbollah and Amal-linked negotiators

    Hezbollah's political council and Berri's camp argue that a ceasefire cannot be credible if Israel keeps occupying or striking Lebanese territory while demanding Hezbollah's withdrawal. Their strongest case is reciprocity: armed groups should not be asked to stand down without a parallel Israeli halt by land, air and sea and a route for displaced Lebanese to return.

  3. Israel and United States security officials

    Israeli and U.S. officials frame the central problem as Hezbollah's ability to keep attacking northern Israel while retaining weapons outside Lebanese state control. Their strongest argument is that any ceasefire that leaves Hezbollah's military infrastructure intact would recreate the conditions that made earlier border arrangements fail.

Sources & evidence