U.S. hands Lebanon ceasefire proposal
15/11/2024 6:05
The U.S. ambassador to
Lebanon submitted a draft truce proposal to Lebanon's speaker of
parliament Nabih Berri on Thursday to halt fighting between
armed group Hezbollah and Israel, two political sources told
Reuters, without revealing details.
The U.S. has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end
hostilities between its ally Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah,
but efforts have yet to yield a result. Israel launched a
stepped-up air and ground campaign in late September after
cross-border clashes in parallel with the Gaza war.
U.S. ambassador Lisa Johnson met with Berri, a Hezbollah
ally and the typical conduit for diplomacy with the group, on
Thursday to submit Washington's first written proposal in at
least several weeks, two senior Lebanese political sources said.
"It is a draft to get observations from the Lebanese
side," one of the sources told Reuters. Neither source could
provide details on the contents of the proposal.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. embassy in
Beirut.
Truce initiatives so far have centered around better
implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution
1701, which ended the last round of conflict between Hezbollah
and Israel in 2006 and stipulates that southern Lebanon must be
free of arms that do not belong to the Lebanese state.
Draft proposals leaked in recent weeks include details
on a monitoring mechanism that could involve other countries.
Lebanon has endorsed 1701 as the way out of the current
conflict. Israel, however, has demanded that it retain the right
to carry out any targeting of Hezbollah if it violates the
provisions of the truce or poses a threat to Israel.
Lebanese officials say that "direct enforcement" by
Israel has not been formally floated to Lebanon, but that it
would be rejected by Beirut.
"The idea that Israel can enforce at any time - that is
unthinkable," one of the political sources said on Thursday.
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