Lebanese PM says hoping for ceasefire in coming days; US-drafted truce deal leaks
Leaked draft calls for new global oversight system in southern Lebanon, says Israel ‘may choose to act against violations’; US: ‘Doesn’t reflect the current state of negotiations’
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday said he was striving for a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group within the coming days, after a hopeful conversation with US special envoy Amos Hochstein and as reports emerged with details of a US-backed ceasefire proposal.
“We are doing our best… to have a ceasefire within the coming hours or days,” Mikati said during a televised interview with independent Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed, adding that he was “cautiously optimistic.”
He said that the call with Hochstein had given him reason to believe that a ceasefire would be possible ahead of the US presidential elections on November 5.
The US has been pushing for a ceasefire proposal that would restore calm to both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border more than a year after Hezbollah began launching missile and drone attacks against Israel on a near-daily basis.
The Kan public broadcaster on Wednesday published the details of what it said was a draft agreement drawn up by the US for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which forbids Hezbollah from maintaining a presence south of the Litani River.
The ceasefire proposal begins with a 60-day implementation period, during which time the Lebanese army will deploy along the border and confiscate Hezbollah arms in southern Lebanon, according to the documents published by Kan.
חשיפה בכאן 11: זוהי טיוטת ההסכם המלא שמתגבש בין ישראל ללבנון. ההסכם נוסח ע״י המתווך האמריקני עמוס הוכשטיין, והונח על שולחנה של ישראל. בכירים ישראלים אומרים שהדרג המדיני מרוצה מהטיוטה וסיכוייו גבוהים. הנה הטיוטה המלאה >>>> pic.twitter.com/39sZianq8m
— Suleiman Maswadeh סולימאן מסוודה (@SuleimanMas1) October 30, 2024
The IDF will be required to pull all troops from Lebanon within seven days of the end of hostilities, and will be replaced by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). The United Nations peacekeeping forces will facilitate the transition.
Ultimately, there will be 10,000 LAF troops along the border with Israel.
At the end of the 60-day implementation period, Israel and Lebanon will hold indirect negotiations via the US on fully implementing Resolution 1701 and resolving border disputes.
A new International Monitoring and Enforcement Mechanism (IMEM) will be created, with the US serving as chair and with the participation of Italy, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, UNIFIL and regional countries.
The draft agreement stipulated that Israel “may choose to act against violations” of the agreement, and will be able to respond to threats from Lebanese territory. Should Lebanon or IMEM fail to address Hezbollah weapons shipments or production, Israel will be permitted to strike such targets following a consultation with the US.
Israel will also be able to conduct intelligence flights over Lebanon if they are invisible to the naked eye and do not break the sound barrier.
Kan reported that a draft side letter between the US and Israel affirmed Israel’s right to self-defense, and said that the US would play a lead role in implementing the ceasefire and ensuring Lebanon meets its commitments.
While there has been no comment from Israeli officials on the leaked document, Channel 12 reported that during a meeting of top Israeli officials led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, there was broad agreement that Israel had largely achieved its goals in Lebanon and should now seek to translate that into a deal to end the fighting.
The report said that Netanyahu had accepted security officials’ position that a ceasefire in Lebanon is appropriate so long as it fulfills the objective of returning some 60,000 displaced northern residents safely to their homes.
To that end, Hochstein is expected to visit Israel with senior White House official Brett McGurk on Thursday for talks on possible ceasefires with Hezbollah and Hamas.
The White House appeared to distance itself from the leaked draft proposal, saying in a statement that it “doesn’t reflect the current state of negotiations.”
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, meanwhile, pledged Wednesday to end the “suffering and destruction in Lebanon,” in an apparent appeal to Arab voters less than a week before the election.
Trump has been aggressively courting Arab and Muslim voters in the swing state of Michigan, which also houses the largest Lebanese community in the US, amid fury over the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the war in Gaza.
While Trump, like Biden, has backed Israel’s right to defend itself, he has repeatedly called Israel to end the war quickly and claimed that Hamas wouldn’t have attacked Israel if he were president.
His post on X pledging to end the destruction in Lebanon did not mention Israel or Hezbollah.
“During my administration, we had peace in the Middle East, and we will have peace again very soon! I will fix the problems caused by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and stop the suffering and destruction in Lebanon,” Trump tweeted.
“I want to see the Middle East return to real peace, a lasting peace, and we will get it done properly so it doesn’t repeat itself every 5 or 10 years!”
During my Administration, we had peace in the Middle East, and we will have peace again very soon! I will fix the problems caused by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and stop the suffering and destruction in Lebanon. I want to see the Middle East return to real peace, a lasting peace,…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2024
US cites significant progress against Hezbollah
Earlier Wednesday, US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller reiterated the Biden administration’s stance in support of Israel going after Hezbollah sites, while urging it to avoid targeting civilians, civilian infrastructure, journalists and heritage sites.
Asked about Israel’s airstrikes targeting Hezbollah sites across the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, he noted that Israel had ordered the evacuation of the city ahead of time and said the US supported the step.
He reiterated that IDF operations in Lebanon must not look like those in Gaza, where there has been mass destruction throughout the entirety of the enclave as Israel battles the Hamas terror group.
Miller noted that Israel has made significant progress in hitting Hezbollah along the southern Lebanese border and in its efforts to push it back beyond the Litani River.
He clarified that the US was not currently calling for an immediate ceasefire, but that it does ultimately want to see a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
Also on Wednesday, President Joe Biden hosted Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides at the White House, where the two discussed new efforts by the US to end the fighting in both Lebanon and Gaza.
Christodoulides said that he had been briefed on the latest stepped-up efforts by the US administration and other mediators but declined to offer further details about the discussion.
He added that while the situation on the ground changes daily, he was “quite optimistic” that a Lebanon ceasefire deal could emerge in one to two weeks.
Israeli strikes across Lebanon
The IDF said in a statement on Wednesday that fighter jets had struck Hezbollah command centers and other infrastructure in Baalbek and Nabatieh, in the northeast and south of Lebanon, respectively.
Prior to the strikes, the IDF issued evacuation warnings for the entirety of both cities.
It accused Hezbollah of “systematically” taking over civilian areas in Lebanon for its activities.
The IDF also confirmed launching airstrikes on Hezbollah fuel depots near Baalbek.
It said that the fuel sites were located within Hezbollah military compounds belonging to the terror group’s Unit 4400, which is tasked with delivering weapons from Iran and its proxies to Lebanon.
“These sites provided fuel for vehicles in the service of the terror organization and served as a significant means of operating its military infrastructure,” the IDF said.
According to the military, the fuel at the depots was provided by Iran.
“Iran finances more than half of Hezbollah’s budget, via the [IRGC’s] Quds Force, which transports oil and money through various routes to Lebanon,” the IDF said.
احد الغارات العنيفة التي استهدفت #بعلبك قبل قليل ومازال العدوان مستمر#بعلبك_الهرمل #نعيم_قاسم #صور pic.twitter.com/RcOCIwQiWN
— SANA NEWS (@sananews0) October 30, 2024
Drone attack on northern Israel
Three drones were launched from Lebanon at Israel on Wednesday evening, triggering sirens across the northern coastal plain from Nahariya down to Acre and Haifa.
One of the three drones was intercepted by the IDF air defenses over Ya’ara in the Western Galilee, while the other two exploded in northern Israel, causing no injuries and without any reports of major damage.
The IDF said it also launched interceptor missiles at a target in the Hadera area amid the incident, but it was later revealed to have been a false identification.
Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis since October 8, 2023, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, 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 32 civilians. In addition, 61 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September.
Two soldiers have been killed in a drone attack from Iraq, and there have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
The IDF estimates that more than 2,000 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups, along with hundreds of civilians, have also been reported killed in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has named 516 members who have been killed by Israel amid the fighting, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. These numbers have not been consistently updated since Israel began a new offensive against Hezbollah in September.
Times of Israel Staff and Agencies contributed to this report.
