Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are close to a ceasefire agreement, according to some sources they have already reached an agreement. Several Israeli media outlets reported today, according to The Times of Israel (ToI), that Israel’s security cabinet is set to meet on Tuesday evening to approve the deal. Citing the Arab daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat, the daily Haaretz wrote today that the 60-day ceasefire in Lebanon will be announced on Tuesday by the presidents of the United States and France, Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron.
Hezbollah and Israel deal indirectly, instead of Hezbollah, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament, Nabih Barri, leads the negotiations on the American proposal.
American news server Axios reported on Israel’s cease-fire agreement with Hezbollah today, citing an unnamed high-ranking American official. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the text of the agreement had been finalized and that “something drastic” would have to happen for the agreement to fall apart. Already on Sunday evening, Axios, citing a high-ranking Israeli official, wrote that Israel is moving towards an agreement. Today, a spokesman for the Israeli government said that the parties “are moving towards an agreement, but some issues still remain to be resolved”.
Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said on Sunday that Israel agreed in principle to the US-backed cease-fire proposal and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was now working on how to present it to the public, assuming it was approved by Hezbollah. According to The Times Israel (ToI) website, Netanyahu wants to present the truce not as a “compromise” but as an agreement beneficial to Israel. The mayors of two municipalities from the north of Israel today according to ToI in response to reports of a deal, they said it would be a “surrender”.
US envoy Amos Hochstein spoke in Israel and Lebanon last week. In Beirut, he met with the head of the parliament Barri, whom Hizbullah entrusted with the negotiations. The deputy speaker of the Lebanese parliament, Elias Bou Saab, said today, according to Reuters, that a decisive moment in the ceasefire negotiations is approaching and he expressed cautious optimism. He also stated that “a man like Netanyahu cannot be trusted.” However, he later added that there were “no serious obstacles” to the start of the ceasefire and that an important point of contention had been resolved: who would supervise the observance of the ceasefire. According to Búa Saab, it will be a committee of representatives of five countries, chaired by the United States and represented by France, among others.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told Knesset members today that any ceasefire would depend only on two agreed-upon rules being followed: that Hezbollah troops remain north of the Litani River, a safe distance from Israel’s borders, and that the militant movement cannot regroup in Lebanon and rearm.
The draft agreement includes a 60-day transition period during which the Israeli army would withdraw from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah would move its forces away from the border beyond the Litani River. Only the Lebanese army and UN UNIFIL troops are to operate in this area in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel, according to a 2006 UN Security Council resolution that ended the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah has been violating this resolution for a long time and has been shelling the north of Israel from the south of Lebanon, which the Israeli army has been retaliating for a long time.
Sporadic gunfights have become daily since October 8 last year, a day after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel, sparking the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. In the second half of September, the Israeli army significantly intensified shelling of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where it killed a number of its commanders, including long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah. Since the beginning of October, the Israeli army has also been conducting a ground operation in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said today that 3,768 people have lost their lives in Israeli shelling of Lebanon since last October, especially since this September. Most of them were members of Hezbollah, but according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), more than 200 children have also been killed since September. On the Israeli side, 82 soldiers and 47 civilians died in Hezbollah strikes in 13 months, AFP reported today.
Hezbollah is the most powerful military force in Lebanon and has several ministers in the government and members of parliament. It has been fighting against Israel since its inception in the 1980s, and some countries, including the US, consider it a terrorist organization. The EU designates only the military wing of Hezbollah as terrorist.
Source: www.tyden.cz
