The truce talks come as Israel bombed Lebanon’s Dahiyeh and issued new threats [Getty]
Israeli and US sources said on Monday that political leaders are willing to take further steps to advance a truce deal with Lebanon, while points of contention that have stopped a final deal from being agreed upon remain.
Israeli officials said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has an arrest warrant against him issued by the International Criminal Court, held a meeting on Sunday where a decision was taken to move towards an agreement.
Axios reported that an Israeli official present at the meeting said “the direction was positive” but several issues are still unresolved.
A senior Israeli official interviewed by the Israeli Channel14 also hinted that Israel is moving towards a ceasefire in Lebanon, which is a “possibility that could materialise in the next few days”.
The official said in his view, the cessation in hostilities would allow Israel to revive its economy but could mean that it is unable to defeat Hezbollah.
However, progress on the truce deal remains unclear, with points of disagreement stalling the deal and opinion divided in Israel.
Israeli Army Radio on Monday quoted David Azoulay, the head of the council of Metula near the Lebanese border, as saying that if a truce deal is agreed on the current terms, “it will not be safe here”, adding it would be akin to “surrender to Hezbollah”.
Lebanese ministry officials who spoke to The New Arab’s Arabic language sister publication, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, said diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire are continuing and there are hopes that a solution can be reached.
However, they added that “we cannot be very optimistic, given that we are dealing with an entity that is not trustworthy,” in reference to Israel.
“Israeli escalations cannot be considered a rejection of a deal, but at the same time it is a clear procrastination with the aim of causing more damage, displacement and pressure to impose certain conditions,” they said.
Renewed threats of Israeli strikes
The truce talks came as Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs and issued new threats of further strikes on Monday morning for buildings in the area and in the southern Lebanese town of Halta, ordering residents to leave.
The forced evacuation orders come a day after Hezbollah launched around 340 missiles and drones towards Tel Aviv, causing severe damage.
Israeli Army Radio said Hezbollah’s attack on Tel Aviv, believed to be one of the biggest attacks the group has carried out on Israel since the start of hostilities, has wounded 11 people.
Fierce fighting also continued between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, with at least three people killed by an Israeli strike on Zebqine, near the city of Tyre.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said on Sunday in a meeting with Lebanon’s caretake prime minister Najib Mikati, that the Israeli army has erased 37 entire villages in south Lebanon and “continues to drop 1-ton bombs on central Beirut”, urging for attacks to stop and a ceasefire to be agreed.
Israeli strikes on a Lebanese army facility on Sunday killed a soldier and wounded 18 others, Lebanon’s army said, with Mikati denouncing it a “direct bloody message rejecting all efforts to reach a ceasefire”.
“Israel’s messages rejecting a solution are ongoing, and just as it turned against the US-French call for a ceasefire in September, here it is once again responding with Lebanese blood, blatantly rejecting the solution that is being discussed” he continued.
Late on Sunday, Hezbollah announced it carried out 51 operations in Israel and targeted Israeli forces in Israel. The group said they targeted Israeli settlements and troops using mainly surface-to-surface rockets.
As a result of the ongoing aggression, Lebanon’s education ministry announced that it had suspended in-person classes in schools in Beirut until January.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 3,754 people and wounded an additional 15,626 since 7 October 2023.
