Hochstein to travel to Israel after ‘progress’ in Lebanon talks

The US envoy mediating a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon said he will travel to Tel Aviv on Wednesday to pass on what had been reached with Lebanese officials, citing progress in the two-day discussions.

Amos Hochstein was still in Beirut on Wednesday trying to iron out the remaining sticking points in a ceasefire deal that could bring an end to the Israeli offensive that has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon since October last year, many of them civilians.

Hochstein is expected to arrive in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night and will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convey Lebanon’s response to the draft of the ceasefire proposal, according to Israeli media.

His visit to Israel was delayed amid remaining stumbling blocks which needed to be cleared in Beirut. Israeli media said that Hochstein’s scheduled stopover in Tel Aviv indicates that some outstanding issues may have been resolved, which could pave the way for an agreement.

Hochstein met with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri again on Wednesday, after already seeing him the previous day.

In a very brief statement to the press, Hochstein said: “The meeting today built on the meeting yesterday, and made additional progress.”

“So I will travel from here in a couple of hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can,” he told journalists. 

The proposal currently being discussed was handed to Lebanese officials – including the party in the conflict, Hezbollah – last week by the US ambassador to Lebanon.

The proposal was reportedly drafted by Israeli and US officials in Washington and even greenlighted by President-elect Donald Trump.

Any ceasefire would be in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the 2006 summer war between Hezbollah and Israel but was never fully enforced.

France’s top diplomat on Wednesday said that US-led efforts for a truce in Lebanon had created the chance for a lasting ceasefire and he called on both sides to accept a deal on the table.

“There is a window of opportunity that’s opening for a lasting ceasefire in Lebanon that would allow the return of those displaced, ensure the sovereignty of Lebanon and the security of Israel,” Jean-Noel Barrot told Europe 1 radio.

What are the main hurdles?

According to Lebanese and Israeli media, the main obstacle preventing Beirut from agreeing to a deal is Israel’s insistence on wanting to maintain the right to attack anywhere in Lebanon in the event of a violation.

Israel has allegedly asked its number one ally, the US, to guarantee that it will be allowed to take military action inside Lebanese territory if a committee responsible for overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire, along with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), do not address the violation.

Lebanese officials have said there was no way such a demand would be accepted as it would be a breach of sovereignty. 

Further complicating efforts, Netanyahu had said this week his military would continue to strike Hezbollah even if an agreement is reached.

A Hezbollah official on Wednesday said that any US-brokered deal between the group and Israel must end fighting swiftly and must preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Speaking to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV, Mahmoud Qmati said that he was neither overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic about the prospects of a truce.

Another item of the draft agreement that Hezbollah has reportedly refused is including Germany and the UK in the committee that would be in charge of overseeing the implementation of UNSCR 1701.

Lebanese officials, including Berri, have said Lebanon was fine with the US and France being in that committee, but there was no need to include Britain and Germany too. An Arab state is also expected to join the committee, and some reports have suggested it could be Egypt.

Lebanese soldiers killed

According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the proposed deal stipulates a 60-day truce, which would see Hezbollah fighters move north of the Litani River and Lebanese soldiers move in. The UN peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, operates south of the river too.

If that truce holds, Israeli forces are expected to pull out of areas they invaded in southern Lebanon at the start of last month. Discussions to fully demarcate the Lebanon-Israel border would commence once a ceasefire takes effect.

“The assessment in Israel is that Iran gave the green light to Hezbollah to agree to a ceasefire, probably to send a positive message to the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump,” Yedioth Ahronoth wrote.

The Lebanese government has reiterated its commitment to fully implementing UNSCR 1701, without amendments, and has begun the process of recruiting more soldiers that would be deployed south of the Litani.

Although it is not technically involved in the current war, the LAF has lost a number of its members since the start of fighting in October last year between Iran-backed Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

The most recent casualties were Tuesday night when three soldiers were killed after an Israeli strike hit their base in the southern coastal town of Sarafand.

Another soldier was reported killed on Wednesday when an Israeli strike hit an army vehicle on the Borj el-Mlouk-Qlayaa road in south Lebanon, close to the border.