Beirut has been struggling to pull the country back from the brink after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2, firing rockets into Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader.

With more than 1,000 dead in Lebanon and more than one million others displaced, what are the government and Hezbollah's positions, and what are the chances for negotiations?

What measures has Beirut taken?

Faysal Itani, senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Policy Council, said Lebanese authorities face "a brutal choice: confront Hezbollah or watch Israel do it for them".

A Lebanese official source told AFP that "the Israelis have made it known" -- through the mediation of United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, who visited Israel this month -- that "they want Hezbollah wiped out".

But "Hezbollah can't be disarmed overnight", the source added, requesting anonymity.

Created after Israel invaded in 1982, Hezbollah is the only group to have kept its weapons since the country's 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of "resistance" against Israel.

Since the latest war erupted, Lebanon's government has taken unprecedented steps to try to rein in Hezbollah and its patron Iran.

Beirut has banned Hezbollah's military and security activities, and all activities of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, whom Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has accused of commanding Hezbollah's operations.

Lebanese authorities have also decided to expel Iran's ambassador, a move that has incensed Hezbollah.

A source from the group told AFP on condition of anonymity that Hezbollah has requested the ambassador disregard the measure.

Avoiding confrontation?

The government has taken no steps to implement the ban on Hezbollah's military activities, and the group has kept attacking northern Israel and Israeli troops in south Lebanon.

Authorities fear any domestic confrontation with Hezbollah, which has a strong popular support base among the Shia Muslim community.

They also want to shield the army, an under-funded and under-equipped institution seen as a rare source of unity in a country riven by sectarian and political divisions.

Itani said that, if the military confronts the Iran-backed group, "there is a risk of a sectarian split in the armed forces, though this depends in part on Hezbollah's response."

The army once split along sectarian lines in 1976 during Lebanon's devastating civil war.

State hamstrung in south?

Authorities say the war has scuttled the army's plans to disarm Hezbollah -- which it had been doing in south Lebanon following a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end the previous war between Israel and the militants.

The army in January said it had finished dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure between the Israeli border and the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) to the north -- where Hezbollah says fighting is underway with advancing Israeli troops, and where Israel wants to establish a "security zone".

For Israel, Lebanon's army "lost total credibility to the degree that it is now ignored altogether", Itani said.

The military has even withdrawn from border areas to avoid being caught up in the conflict, despite pleas from villagers still defying Israeli army orders to evacuate.

Hezbollah's position?

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Wednesday urged the government to reverse its ban on the group's military activities.

Mahmud Qamati, an official from the group, has called the government's decision illegal, even comparing it to France's Nazi collaborationist Vichy regime in World War II.

A Lebanese security source told AFP on condition of anonymity that Iranian advisers and liaison officers have been assisting Hezbollah and helping it regroup since the 2024 ceasefire with Israel.

Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran's military, have announced joint operations against Israel since the start of the war.

A Western diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity that Hezbollah had hardened its position since coming under the Guards' supervision.

Negotiations?

In a bid to break the political impasse, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has proposed a direct negotiations with Israel and a full truce.

But for now, prospects for a ceasefire or talks between the two countries, who have officially been at war since 1948 and have no formal diplomatic relations, seem remote.

Hezbollah's Qassem said negotiating under fire would amount to "surrender".

According to the Lebanese official source, "Israel wants negotiations under fire" and won't accept a truce as proposed by Aoun.

For now, the source said, the government can do little more that try, "through diplomatic contacts, to spare Lebanon from strikes on (vital) infrastructure".