Israel said seeking US commitment for freedom of action if Hezbollah breaches truce
Israeli TV reports progress in Israel-US talks; WSJ says Hezbollah and Lebanon unlikely to agree to Israel’s demand for ‘active enforcement’ of ceasefire; Blinken: More work to do
Top Israeli officials and senior Biden aides made significant progress in their meetings aimed at securing a ceasefire in Lebanon, according to a Channel 12 report on Thursday that said Israel is seeking a side letter from the US in which Washington will commit to allowing Israel freedom of action to respond to any violation of the ceasefire deal by Hezbollah.
A US official told The Times of Israel that US special envoy Amos Hochstein and White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk’s meetings with top Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Thursday were “substantive and constructive and focused on a number of issues in depth, including Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and securing the release of hostages.”
Hochstein and McGurk met over the course of the day with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Shin Bet director Ronan Bar, Mossad director David Barnea and other senior Israeli officials.
“There was a particular focus on efforts to secure a ceasefire deal in Lebanon that allows people on both sides of the Blue Line to return safely to their homes as well as new initiatives to secure the release of hostages, which Hamas must do without delay,” the US official said, adding that Washington “will not negotiate either issue in public.”
Netanyahu’s office said “the main issue” that the premier discussed with Hochstein and McGurk were “Israel’s ability and determination to enforce the agreement and thwart any threat to its security from Lebanon.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that Israel and Lebanon were moving toward understandings on what is required for implementing UN Resolution 1701 that would result in a sustainable end to the conflict.
“It’s important to make sure we have clarity, both from Lebanon and from Israel, about what would be required under 1701 to get its effective implementation,” Blinken told a press conference. “I can tell you that based on my recent trip to the region, the work that’s ongoing right now, we have made good progress on those understandings.”
While good progress had been made, there was still more work to do, Blinken said.
The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1701 in 2006 with the aim of keeping peace on the border between Lebanon and Israel, but provisions on Hezbollah’s disarmament and the prevention of their presence near the Israeli border were quickly ignored.
Lebanon’s prime minister expressed hope on Wednesday that a ceasefire deal with Israel would be announced within days as Israel’s public broadcaster published what it said was a draft agreement providing for an initial 60-day truce.
According to the US news site Axios, Israel’s main demand is to be able to conduct “active enforcement” of Resolution 1701, which requires that the Lebanese Armed Forces be the only force with arms in southern Lebanon.
A report in The Wall Street Journal said that demand is likely to face steep resistance from both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government over concerns it violates the country’s sovereignty.
The report said Hezbollah told mediators the 60-day ceasefire leaves the door open to “Israeli aggression in Lebanon,” and that the terror group is staunchly against any modification of resolution 1701.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that there seemed to be progress in convincing Hezbollah to drop its insistence that there be no halt to the fighting in Lebanon until there’s a ceasefire in Gaza.
Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it’s doing so to support Gaza following the Hamas attack a day earlier that sparked the ongoing war there.
Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught in southern Israel, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack, and increasing rocket fire by the terror group.
The attacks on northern Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 39 civilians.
The conflict in Lebanon has dramatically escalated over the past five weeks, with IDF troops launching a limited ground operation in southern Lebanon on September 30, several days after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Beirut.
According to the IDF, 61 soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, over 2,800 people have been killed in Lebanon over the past year, with most of the deaths coming since the conflict escalated last month. The IDF estimates that more than 2,000 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict.
