“We believe we have reached the point where we are close” to a ceasefire agreement between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel, John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesman, said Monday. However, he stressed that nothing was yet certain and called for caution.
The Israeli security cabinet “will decide on Tuesday evening” on the ceasefire agreement, an Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity, without providing further details. Also very involved in international mediation efforts, the French presidency affirmed that discussions on a ceasefire had “advanced significantly”, calling on Israel and Hezbollah to seize “this opportunity as quickly as possible”.
According to the American news site Axios, the agreement is based on an American project providing for a 60-day truce during which Hezbollah and the Israeli army would withdraw from southern Lebanon, bordering northern Israel. It is the Lebanese army which should take over and establish itself on the border. Civilians who have fled these territories since the start of the bombings could then return there.
The mediations are based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. It stipulates that only the Lebanese army and peacekeepers can be deployed on the southern border of Lebanon.
The agreement would also include the establishment of an international committee to monitor its implementation, Axios added. According to AP sources, Lebanon and Israel are at odds over which countries would sit on this international committee overseeing the implementation of this agreement. France could be part of it but Lebanon would have refused the presence of the United Kingdom, too close to the Jewish state.
Other points of contention remained to be resolved in recent hours. Israel thus requested guarantees to ensure that Hezbollah's weapons would be removed from its border, an Israeli official reported to AP on Sunday.
The country also asked to be able to act if Hezbollah violated the agreement. This Monday, the far-right Israeli Minister in charge of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, declared on X that the conclusion of this agreement would be “a big mistake” and “a historic missed opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah” . According to Axios, American assurances to support Israeli military action in the event of hostile acts by Hezbollah have been given.
These announcements were made after an intensification in recent days of Israeli strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, which left at least 31 dead on Monday according to the Ministry of Health.
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