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| Lebanese army soldier stands near destroyed vehicles at a site damaged by an Israeli air strike in the Christian-majority region of Aitou in north Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said, on 14 October 2024 |
Hochstein in Beirut after Lebanon responds to proposal
He says ‘window is now’, hopes for resolute decision
Lebanon’s Berri says situation ‘good in principle’
Israeli minister Cohen says Israel’s demands must be met
A senior US mediator said on Tuesday there was a “real opportunity” to end the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and that gaps were narrowing, signalling progress in Washington’s efforts to clinch a ceasefire.
White House envoy Amos Hochstein spoke in Beirut after talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a day after the Lebanese government and Iran-backed Hezbollah agreed to a US ceasefire proposal, although with comments on the content.
“I came back because we have a real opportunity to bring this conflict to an end,” Hochstein told a press conference after the meeting. “It is now within our grasp. As the window is now, I hope the coming days yield a resolute decision.”
Hochstein’s mission marks a last-ditch attempt by the outgoing US administration to broker a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Berri told pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that the situation was “good in principle” and some details of the ceasefire proposal still needed to be hashed out, including technical details.
He said Hochstein would settle those details before travelling on to Israel, and that Lebanon saw the United States as the guarantor of the Israeli stance.
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said at a conference on Tuesday that “there are talks regarding an arrangement with Lebanon” but that Israel would agree only if all its demands were met, including pushing Hezbollah away from the border.
The diplomatic efforts coincide with an intensification of the war, with Israel stepping up strikes on Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs and striking three times in the capital itself in the last three days.
The conflict spiralled in September when Israel began an offensive, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes, sending troops into the south and killing many Hezbollah commanders including leader Hassan Nasrallah.
During the conflict, 10,000 peacekeepers have been serving in southern Lebanon with the UN peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL, despite it coming under fire several times.
UNIFIL said peacekeepers and facilities had been targeted in three separate incidents on Tuesday, and that four Ghanaian peacekeepers were wounded when a rocket hit their base in southern Lebanon.
In a sign of cracks in the mission’s unity, a UNIFIL spokesperson said Argentina had withdrawn its three officers from the forces, but did not say why.
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