US special envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in Lebanon for truce talks with officials on Tuesday [Getty]
Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have both agreed to a US ceasefire proposal, according to Reuters, prompting a visit to Beirut by US envoy Amos Hochstein on Tuesday for talks about its roll-out.
Hochstein’s visit signals surprise progress in US-led diplomacy efforts, approved by President-Elect Donald Trump, to resolve a conflict that escalated into all-out war in late September following Israel’s major offensive against Hezbollah.
A diplomat familiar with the talks told Reuters that some details still needed to be ironed out, which could still hold up a final agreement.
On Monday, caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati told The New Arab‘s affiliated Al-Araby TV that Lebanon had responded “positively” to the US proposal, noting that “some points required clarification and discussion”.
Mikati denied that the plan would give Israel the freedom to take military action inside Lebanese territory.
The Saudi-based Al-Arabiya TV reported, citing a source familiar with the talks, that Washington was seeking to secure Lebanese approval for future US oversight over security arrangements for Beirut, its airport and harbour and the prevention of arms supplies to Hezbollah from Syria.
The draft of the ceasefire proposal was submitted in writing to the Lebanese government last week with Beirut officials making some comments on the content, Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, told Reuters on Monday.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Khalil said Israel was trying to negotiate “under fire”, a reference to an escalation of its bombardment of Beirut and the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. “This won’t affect our position,” he said.
He declined to detail the notes that Lebanon made on the draft but said they were presented “in a positive atmosphere” and in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
Its terms require Hezbollah to have no armed presence in the area between the Lebanese-Israeli border and the Litani River, which runs some 30 km (20 miles) north of the frontier.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah and Israel continued cross-border attacks late on Monday and early Tuesday, with Israeli forces striking buildings in central and southern Beirut on Monday resulting in heavy casualties and damage.
On Monday, Israeli forces struck a building in central Beirut’s Zoqaq al-Blat (Zuqaq al-Blat) neighbourhood, near the prime minister’s office (Grand Serail), killing five and wounding at least 31, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Early on Tuesday, an Israeli drone struck Ghobeiry in southern Beirut, without prior warning. The strike caused a number of injuries and the collapse of a four-story building.
The strikes came after “an increasingly unusual precarious calm during the day in Beirut and its surroundings” late on Monday, according to the French-language L’Orient-le Jour daily.
The previous days had seen Israel escalating its attacks on the Lebanese capital, both in central neighbourhoods and Hezbollah strongholds in the southern suburbs.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said on Monday its forces had targeted the Tel Haim military base in Tel Aviv with a “salvo of advanced missiles and a squadron of attack drones”.
Footage of the attack and its aftermath circulated on social media outlets, showing a building on fire where a missile had struck.
Israeli Ynet news site cited the Israeli army as saying that a failed interception led to a “direct hit from a heavy rocket” in Ramat Gan.
“An interceptor struck the rocket at a high altitude, breaking it into pieces, one of which caused extensive damage,” the army said.
The impact caused a blaze at an electric generator, shattered the glass of a tower, and damaged an empty bus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would continue to conduct military operations against Hezbollah even if a ceasefire was reached.
“The most important thing is not (the deal that) will be laid on paper,” Netanyahu told parliament.
“We will be forced to ensure our security in the north (of Israel) and to systematically carry out operations against Hezbollah’s attacks… even after a ceasefire”, to keep the group from rebuilding, he said.
