Hopes of respite continue to fade for the Lebanese people. Israel will “carry out military operations” against Hezbollah even in the event of a truce agreement in Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Monday in Jerusalem. “The most important thing is not (what is sure) the paper if there is one (accord) but the fact that we will have the obligation, in order to ensure security in the North (from Israel)to systematically carry out operations against possible attacks by Hezbollah, even after a ceasefire,” Benjamin Netanyahu declared in Parliament.
“Nothing proves that this agreement will be respected” by Hezbollah, continued the Israeli Prime Minister, referring to “not only operations in reaction to attacks (by Hezbollah) but also operations to prevent (its) reinforcement”. “We will not allow Hezbollah to return to the situation it was in on October 6” 2023, on the eve of the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. On October 8, 2023, Hezbollah launched almost daily fire on northern Israel, in support of its Palestinian ally.
The American ambassador to Lebanon, Lisa Johnson, submitted to Lebanese officials on Thursday a proposal for a ceasefire between pro-Iranian Hezbollah and Israel.
“Lebanon is very positive about this proposal,” an official who follows the negotiations told AFP on Monday, stressing that Beirut was currently finalizing its “remarks” before transmitting its response to the United States.
For its part, Israel, which insists that any possible agreement guarantees the distancing of Hezbollah from the Israeli-Lebanese border, is blowing hot and cold around a cease-fire. Leaks in the press indicated that Israel was demanding to be able to continue its strikes against Hezbollah after a ceasefire, which a Lebanese official, interviewed by AFP, considered unacceptable last week.
The text of the American initiative has not been revealed but concerns in particular a cease-fire and an exhaustive application of resolution 1701, according to Lebanese officials. This resolution, which provides for the cessation of hostilities on both sides, made it possible to end the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
