US envoy Amos Hochstein is in Beirut today, raising hopes for reaching a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah.
What’s in the deal?
The US-backed proposal aims to achieve a 60-day halt in hostilities and is being portrayed as the basis of a lasting ceasefire, according to a Lebanese official.
The official said that terms are 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 requires Israeli ground forces, operating in southern Lebanon since late September, to withdraw from the country and demands a stricter enforcement of resolution 1701, according to the official.
What are the sticking points?
An Israeli source familiar with the talks cast doubt on the likelihood of an imminent deal, noting that Hezbollah’s refusal to accept Israel’s demand for the right to strike the group in the event of a ceasefire violation could jeopardize the process. Without this clause, the source said, it was uncertain whether Israel’s prime minister could get cabinet approval for the agreement.
Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich said that “full operational freedom” for the Israeli military in southern Lebanon was “non-negotiable.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati dismissed reports of demands to give the Israeli military operational freedom in south Lebanon as “speculation,” adding that he hasn’t seen such a clause in the proposal.
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who leads the Hezbollah-allied Amal party and is an interlocutor in the talks, told Saudi media that the proposal he received from the US does not mention Israeli military operational freedom in Lebanon, adding that the US knows that such a demand would be “unacceptable.”
Another Lebanese source familiar with the talks has told CNN that President-elect Donald Trump has endorsed US envoy Amos Hochstein’s ceasefire negotiations track, increasing the chances of its success.