Hezbollah and Lebanon agree to US ceasefire proposal

Top Lebanese official says decision is most serious effort yet to secure a truce

Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Lebanon and Hezbollah have agreed to a US ceasefire proposal that would end the year-long conflict between the terror group and Israel, a top Lebanese official said.
Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Nabih Berri, the parliament speaker, said Lebanon had delivered its written response to the US, describing it as the most serious effort yet to secure a truce.
Hezbollah has endorsed Mr Berri, known to be a long-time ally of the Iran-backed group, to negotiate a ceasefire.
“Lebanon presented its comments on the paper in a positive atmosphere,” Mr Khalil told Reuters, adding that their response precisely adhered to UN Security Council resolution 1701, which brought an end to the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
Mr Khalil cautioned that Israel “could make 100 problems” if it isn’t interested in a solution now.
A source familiar with the talks told The Telegraph that Israel’s security establishment is under the impression that the army “reached everything” that was needed with regards to Hezbollah, and that a ceasefire is preferable to a long war.
“As for the government, they think they got all the guarantees from the Americans,” the source added.
Amos Hochstein, the US special envoy, arrived in Beirut on Tuesday, despite reports on Monday suggesting that he would delay his trip and that a visit to Israel depended on how things developed during his stay in Lebanon.
A Lebanese government official told AFP that they were waiting for Mr Hochstein to arrive “so we can review certain outstanding points with him”.
Iran’s supreme leader is said to be pushing Hezbollah towards a ceasefire after sharing his support for the plan on Friday, Iranian sources told The New York Times.
Jake Sullivan, US national security advisor said on Monday night an agreement still hasn’t been reached.
“We don’t have an agreement. If we did, we’d be out announcing it and trumpeting it from the rooftops. But we believe that we’re seeing progress, and we think both sides – both the Lebanese side and the Israeli side – have indicated a willingness to get this done and to get it done on a short timeframe,” Mr Sullivan told PBS NewsHour.
The US-drafted proposal is expected to demand that Hezbollah and Israeli forces completely withdraw from southern Lebanon, and that the Lebanese army be in charge of disarming Hezbollah and preventing the terror group from smuggling weapons into Lebanon.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said on Monday that Israel would continue to conduct military operations against Hezbollah even if a ceasefire is reached.
“The most important thing is not [the deal that] will be laid on paper,” Mr Netanyahu told parliament, saying Israel will be “forced to ensure security in the north… even after a ceasefire”.
Mr Netanyahu also said there was no evidence Hezbollah would respect any ceasefire.
The ceasefire developments come as Hezbollah continued to fire long-range missiles at central Israel on Monday night and Tuesday morning.
More than 115 rockets and missiles were fired at Israel on Monday, killing a woman and wounding another 30 as a three-storey house in the town of Shfaram in the north was hit directly.
Israel carried out strikes on central Beirut in a “densely populated area” close to government buildings, embassies and the UN headquarters, killing five people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email