Lebanese government source: Hezbollah had agreed to ceasefire before Nasrallah killed

Hezbollah told Lebanese authorities it accepted a ceasefire with Israel the day an Israeli strike killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah, a government source tells AFP.

“On September 27, Hezbollah officially informed the Lebanese government, via parliament speaker Nabih Berri, that he accepted an international initiative for a ceasefire,” the source says.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati was at the UN General Assembly in New York that day, when the United States and its allies put forward a proposal for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon. Mikati informed his counterparts of Hezbollah’s position, the source says, and international negotiators were waiting to hear back from Israel.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his speech to world leaders the same day that there would be no let-up in the battle against Hezbollah until Israel’s northern border was secured. After he spoke, Israel’s air force carried out a huge strike on Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, killing Nasrallah.

Since his death, the Lebanese government “has had no contact with Hezbollah”, the source adds.