Lebanon is studying an American proposal for a truce in the war between Hezbollah and Israel, Lebanese officials said on Friday, November 15, 2024, at a time when Palestinian Hamas said it was ready for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. with the Israeli army.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered on October 7, 2023 by an attack of unprecedented scale by Hamas on Israeli soil, multiple diplomatic initiatives have not resulted in a ceasefire, Hamas and Israel accusing each other of blocking any agreement.
A senior Lebanese official indicated that the American ambassador to Beirut, Lisa Johnson, had presented to the Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, and the head of Parliament, Nabih Berri, a 13-point plan which includes a 60-day truce and the deployment of the army in southern Lebanon, on the border with Israel.
A second Lebanese government source confirmed that a proposal was under consideration.
“Mr Berri asked for a three-day delay”said the first official, adding that Israel had not yet provided a response.
If there is an agreement, it will be announced in a joint Franco-American press release, added this senior official. “There will be a 60-day ceasefire and Lebanon will start deploying its army to the border”.
Syria hit
An Israeli strike targeted the upscale neighborhood of Mazzé in Damascus on Friday, the official Syrian press agency Sana said, the second raid of this type in two days.
“Israeli aggression targets Mazzé”the agency said on Friday A lotin allusion to the district of the Syrian capital housing embassies, security institutions and UN headquarters.
For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) assured that the strike had targeted a residential complex reserved for the military.
On Thursday, 13 people, including seven civilians, were killed in similar strikes that destroyed three buildings in the same neighborhood, according to the OSDH.
Other keystrokes on “a residential complex inhabited by Palestinians” in the town of Qoudsaya, in the suburbs of Damascus, left ten people dead, said the same source.
The ten people killed in Qudsaya were members of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed group active in the Gaza Strip, according to the NGO based in the United Kingdom but which has a vast network of sources in Syria.
More than 43,000 dead in Gaza
The Health Ministry of the Hamas government in Gaza announced on Friday a new death toll of 43,764 in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war with Israel more than a year ago.
At least 28 people have been killed in the past 24 hours, he said in a statement, adding that 103,490 people had been injured in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack. in Israel on October 7, 2023.
An Iranian advisor in Beirut
An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader met Lebanon’s top leaders in Beirut on Friday, the third supportive visit by a senior Iranian official since the start of the war in September between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
Ali Larijani, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, held talks in the Lebanese capital with Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament head Nabih Berri, himself an ally of pro-Iranian Hezbollah, charged by the Lebanese movement to lead negotiations for a potential ceasefire with Israel.
During a press briefing in Beirut, Mr. Larijani said “hope for a soon solution to the suffering of the Lebanese people. »
Asked about the mediation efforts of the United States, he assured that his country “did not seek to disrupt anything”.
“We are looking for solutions. We support the Lebanese nation in all circumstances”he said, accusing Israel of hindering any way out of the crisis.
