Hezbollah is considering a ceasefire proposal with US-Israel, sources told CNNas diplomatic efforts to end the conflict between the Israelis and the Lebanese militant group intensify.
The United States ambassador to Lebanon, Lisa Johnson, forwarded the proposal to the Lebanese government on Thursday (14) evening, she told CNN a Lebanese official familiar with the discussions.
Officials are “optimistic” that the and hope to send an official response to the latest proposal next Monday (18), the official said.
“Diplomatic efforts are in full swing now,” he reported.
Israel launched a major offensive into Lebanon in mid-September after months of retaliatory strikes across the border.
The attack dealt devastating blows to Hezbollah’s leadership and its vast arsenal and, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, killed hundreds of civilians and displaced more than a million people.
Even with ceasefire negotiations underway, Israeli attacks increased this week, intensifying their bombing and ground operations.
The targets were Shiite-majority areas where Hezbollah exerts influence, but Israel also moved away from the militant group’s areas of dominance.
The latest proposal, which Ambassador Johnson outlined to Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri — who is close to Hezbollah — is the first to be presented by the US and Israel since a temporary ceasefire was negotiated in late September.
These efforts were thwarted when, in a major bomb attack in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Another Lebanese official familiar with discussions surrounding the ceasefire informed the CNN that US President-elect Donald Trump has endorsed the ongoing negotiations, led by the Biden administration’s special envoy to Lebanon, Amos Hochstein.
The US-Israel proposal aims to achieve a 60-day cessation of hostilities and is being portrayed as the basis for a lasting ceasefire, according to the first Lebanese official, adding that the terms are within the parameters of UN Resolution 1701 that ended the Lebanon-Israel war in 2006.
The resolution stipulates that the only armed groups in the area south of Lebanon’s Litani River must be the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping forces.
The proposal also involves, since the end of September, retreating from the internationally recognized border between the two countries.
“The points focus on the implementation mechanism and the role of the Lebanese Armed Forces in implementing 1701 south of the Litani River,” the official said, adding that it also deals with smuggling routes crossing the country’s international borders.
The US embassy in Beirut refused the US’s request CNN to comment on the ceasefire negotiations.
Understand conflicts in the Middle East
Israel launched a major air and ground offensive against the Hezbollah group in Lebanon in late September. Like Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are radical groups financed by Iran, and therefore enemies of Israel.
Bombings in Lebanon have intensified in recent months, causing destruction and forcing more than a million people to leave their homes to escape the war. The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has already left dozens of people dead in Lebanese territory.
At the same time, the war continues in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military is fighting Hamas and searching for hostages who were kidnapped more than a year ago during the radical group’s attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. At the time, more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped.
Since then, more than 43,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza during the Israeli offensive, which also destroyed virtually every building in the Palestinian territory.
On a third front of conflict, Israel and Iran exchanged attacks, which despite raising tension, did not evolve into an all-out war.
In addition, the Israeli Army has been carrying out bombings on Iranian-allied militia targets in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
At the moment, truce negotiations are stalled in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
