Israel on brink of conceding truce with Hezbollah, confirms Israeli representative
Laid-Back Response:
Looks like Israel is all set to stamp that stamp on a U.S. proposed truce with Hezbollah, set for November 26. Yep, goodbye to the horrific 14-month-long battle that's claimed thousands of innocent lives.
Israel's national security gurus are set to gather later today for a chat led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ready to rubber-stamp the agreement. This move paves the way for a grand declaration of peace from both U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, according to four senior Lebanese sources chatting it up with Reuters yesterday.
In the White House, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby shared some insider scoop, saying, "We're close, but nothing's official until everything's official." The French prez period confirmed that talks on a truce hit some good strides.
The deal's already got a thumbs-up in Beirut, as Lebanon's deputy parliament speaker told Reuters there are no major obstacles left to kickstart the peace process, unless Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu suddenly changes his tune.
Netanyahu's office kept mum on Monday about reports of the Israel-Lebanon peace deal agreement. Hezbollah, considered a terror group by the U.S., has given its nod to its politician mate, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, to negotiate the deal.
Here's the lowdown on what's on the table: Israeli troops gotta pull out of southern Lebanon, and Lebanese army troops need to roll into the border zone—Hezbollah's turf—within 60 days, as confirmed by both Elias Bou Saab, Lebanon's deputy parliament speaker, and a second Israeli official.
Military action doesn't seem to be slowing down, with Israeli airstrikes flattening more of Hezbollah-controlled Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday. All this destruction spread across Lebanon means a hefty reconstruction bill headed to cash-strapped Lebanon, with over a million people displaced.
On the flipside, a ceasefire in Israel means about 60,000 people will get to return to their homes in the scorched north, evacuated due to Hezbollah's rocket attack, just one day after the infamous October 7, 2023 assault by Hamas.
Pain in the Neck
Hezbollah's taken some painful blows since Israel's September offensive against the group. Israel's killed its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders and bombarded Lebanese areas under Hezbollah control. The group's retaliated with rocket fire into Israel, chucking around 250 rockets on Sunday.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said on Monday that Israel would keep the power to smash southern Lebanon under any agreement. Lebanon's objected to this in the past and Lebanese officials say the agreement shouldn't let Israel enjoy such rights. Israel's ability to strike is limited to "imminent threats," according to a second Israeli official.
Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Steven Cook stated on Monday that if the agreement fails to materialize, it will signal that the ceasefire isn't sustainable[3]. Joe Biden's administration, which leaves office in January, has emphasized diplomacy to end the Lebanon conflict, even though all negotiations to end the clash in Gaza are frozen. U.S. Middle East envoy Brett McGurk will be knocking on Saudi Arabia's door on Tuesday to talk about using a potential Lebanon ceasefire as a catalyst to seal a deal on Gaza hostilities[5].
Over the past year, more than 3,750 people have been killed, and over a million have been forced from their homes, according to Lebanon's health ministry, which doesn't separate civilians from combatants in its figures. Hezbollah's strikes have killed 45 civilians in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. At least 73 Israeli soldiers have bit the dust in northern Israel, the Golan Heights, and in southern Lebanon combat, according to Israeli authorities.
The ongoing political negotiations to end war-and-conflicts in Lebanon, following a proposed truce between Israel and Hezbollah, are also a matter of general-news, given the possible implications for the region. The negotiations are reportedly set to discuss Israeli troops' withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the deployment of Lebanese army troops in the border zone, as a step towards resolving the long-standing conflict.
