Lebanon reviews US cease-fire proposal
Senior officials in Lebanon are reviewing a US-backed cease-fire proposal to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
A top government official in Beirut said on Friday that US Ambassador Lisa Johnson had presented a 13-point proposal to halt the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. It includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon will deploy troops to the border. The official added that Israel has yet to respond to the plan.
The proposal is largely based on UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, officials said. It calls for Hezbollah to withdraw from southern Lebanon and says only the Lebanese military and UN peacekeepers should operate in the region, which borders Israel.
Amos Hochstein, a senior US aide to President Joe Biden, is on standby, prepared to travel to Beirut based on Lebanon’s official response in the coming days.
Lebanese officials are expected to respond to the proposal soon. Lebanon’s parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, who Hezbollah said was authorized to negotiate on its behalf, said Friday that discussions were “progressing.”
A lawmaker from the same parliamentary bloc as the speaker, Qassen Hashem, told local radio Saturday that the response to the draft cease-fire proposal would be ready by Monday or Tuesday at the latest, while accusing Israel of trying “to discuss the draft under fire to impose its conditions.”
Israel’s military has stepped up strikes on Lebanon in recent days. On Sunday, an Israeli attack on a central Beirut district killed Hezbollah’s spokesman Mohammed Afif, the latest senior figure slain by Israel. Hezbollah said Monday that four members of its media office also died in the strike.
Israel launched a major offensive in Lebanon in mid-September following months of tit-for-tat border attacks which started when Hezbollah attacked Israel in solidarity with Hamas and Palestinians in Gaza.
Lebanese authorities say more than 3,480 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.