Lebanon ceasefire talks intensify as Hezbollah considers new US-Israeli proposal
By Tamara Qiblawi, CNN
(CNN) — Hezbollah is considering a US-Israeli ceasefire proposal, sources told CNN, as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group intensify.
The US ambassador to Lebanon, Lisa Johnson, relayed the proposal to the Lebanese government on Thursday night, a Lebanese official familiar with the discussions told CNN.
Authorities are “optimistic” that Hezbollah will agree to the terms of the agreement and expect to submit an official response to the latest proposal next Monday, the official said.
“Diplomatic efforts are on fire now,” the source said.
Israel launched a major offensive in Lebanon in mid-September following months of tit-for-tat border attacks.
The offensive dealt devastating blows to Hezbollah’s leadership and its vast arsenal, and, according to the Lebanese health ministry, killed hundreds of civilians and displaced more than a million people.
Even with ceasefire talks underway, Israeli strikes have escalated this week, intensifying its bombardment and ground operation. Most of the targets have been Shia-majority areas where Hezbollah wields influence, but Israel has also struck buildings housing displaced families well outside areas of the militant group’s dominance.
The latest proposal, which Ambassador Johnson outlined to Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri – who is close to Hezbollah – is the first to be submitted by the US and Israel since a temporary ceasefire was negotiated in late September. Those efforts were upended when Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a major bombing attack in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Another Lebanese official familiar with the discussions around the ceasefire told CNN that US President-elect Donald Trump has endorsed the ongoing negotiations, which have been spearheaded by the Biden administration’s special envoy to Lebanon, Amos Hochstein.
The US-Israeli proposal aims to achieve a 60-day cessation of hostilities and is being portrayed as the basis of a lasting ceasefire, according to the first Lebanese official, adding that terms lie within the parameters of UN Resolution 1701 which ended the Lebanon-Israel war of 2006. The resolution stipulates that the only armed groups in the area south of Lebanon’s Litani River should be the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping forces.
The proposal also involves Israeli ground forces, operating in south Lebanon since late September, retreat to behind the internationally recognized boundary between the two countries.
“The points mainly focus on the mechanism of implementation and on the role of the Lebanese Armed Forces in implementing 1701in the south of the Litani River,” the official said, adding that it also deals with smuggling routes through the country’s international borders.
The US embassy in Beirut declined CNN’s request for comment on the ceasefire negotiations.
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