Amos Hochstein He returned to Washington empty-handed this Thursday. Joe Biden’s envoy to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah He said a few weeks ago that he would only return to the Middle East “to sign a deal,” but learned his trip would not be as successful upon landing in Beirut earlier this week.
Hochstein, who was reappointed by Donald Trump and who will continue to lead American diplomacy in the region from January 20, marched towards Tel Aviv on Wednesday promising that a ceasefire was “within our reach” after two days of “productive conversations”. in Lebanon. But no: a few hours after the International Criminal Court issued a arrest warrant for Israeli prime ministerAccording to Benjamin Netanyahu, it has been learned that the truce agreement, which many expected to be concluded this week, will have to wait.
During the meeting, Netanyahu stressed that beyond formal agreements, Israel needs concrete security guarantees and its ability to prevent threats coming from Lebanon. “It is not about agreements on paper, but about our determination to enforce them,” the president said.
A vote was expected after the meeting with the American diplomat, but the Prime Minister’s Office only received an update on the status of the negotiations. Hochstein, for his part, has already returned to Washington and no deal is expected to be announced until next week.
According to the Israeli public channel Khanhe the draft agreement proposes an implementation period of 60 daysduring which Israeli troops would leave Lebanon, Hezbollah would retreat to the north bank of the Litani River and the Lebanese army would begin deploying in the evacuated area. UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, would facilitate the transition of Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the territory to the Lebanese army.
One of the main obstacles to the ceasefire agreement is that Netanyahu demands that, in the event that Hezbollah establishes new military positions south of the Litani River, the Israeli army has operational freedom to operate. in the region. Moreover, Tel Aviv wants its intelligence services to continue flying over Lebanon as they did illegally before the start of the current war and claims that, even if a truce were concluded, will have the right to continue attacking Hezbollah.
On Wednesday, Israel’s foreign minister declared his intention to “enforce” that Hezbollah stay out of southern Lebanon and not bring weapons into the country by land, sea or air.
For both the government in Beirut and Hezbollah, the fact that these “rights” appear in a possible agreement comes into direct conflict with Lebanese sovereignty. Thus, everything indicates that Israel and the United States will sign in a letter parallel to the agreement Tel Aviv’s “right” to intervene directly in Lebanon in the name of its self-defense.
The absence of reference to the self-defense of the Lebanese state is a reason for complaint in Beirut. The Arab country’s government wants to modify the US ceasefire proposal to mention the right of both parties “to self-defense”. On Tuesday, Lebanese diplomats also asked Hochstein that the United States modify the call for Israeli withdrawal from “Lebanese borders” with an overall reference to “the Lebanese border” guaranteeing the evacuation of all border points.
If the signing of an agreement seems less close than a few days ago, Israel intensifies its operations in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. In the Palestinian enclave, several attacks left 88 dead this Wednesday alone.
In Beirut, bombings continue to harass neighborhoods on the southern outskirts day and night, and in the south and east of the country the situation has worsened over the past week. “A particularly violent day for Baalbek-Hermel,” the governor of the two regions of the Bekaa Valley, in the east of the country, wrote in X on Thursday evening. In this area, at least 47 people died during the day and 22 others were injured.
For its part, Hezbollah also claimed responsibility for its first attack in southern Israel on Thursday since the start of the war. A missile from the Lebanese militia party hit Ashdod, a town close to Gaza and 150 kilometers from the border with Lebanon.
