US envoy lands in Israel to discuss Lebanon truce after ‘additional progress’ in Beirut
Amos Hochstein expected to meet with Netanyahu on Thursday after talks with Lebanese speaker; Hezbollah fires 3 drones at northern Israel; impacts reported in Acre, Western Galilee
US Mideast envoy Amos Hochstein arrived Wednesday in Israel to try to bring talks to secure a ceasefire with Hezbollah to a close after making “additional progress” in a second meeting with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut, amid ongoing cross-border attacks on northern communities.
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Hochstein’s schedule had not yet been finalized, though the Axios news site reported that the veteran envoy was set to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday morning. After arriving in Israel, Hochstein met with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Netanyahu’s top adviser.
Speaking in Lebanon after his second meeting with Berri, Hochstein said he saw a “real opportunity” to end the conflict after the Lebanese government and Hezbollah largely agreed to a US ceasefire proposal, although with some outstanding issues.
“The meeting today built on the meeting yesterday, and made additional progress,” Hochstein said. “So I will travel from here in a couple of hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can.”
Hochstein added that he would work with the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump on truce efforts to end more than a year of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, noting that he has kept the transition team in the loop.
The US envoy met with Lebanon’s leadership while in Beirut, talks that he described as “very productive.” According to Lebanese media, Hochstein discussed the “technical details” of the deal with Berri, who is a Hezbollah ally.
The efforts came as Syrian state news agency SANA reported Wednesday that 36 people were killed and over 50 wounded in an Israeli attack on residential buildings and the industrial zone in the historic city of Palmyrea.
The Israeli military declined to comment when asked about the attack.
“At approximately 1:30 p.m. today, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the al-Tanf area, targeting a number of buildings in the city of Palmyra in the Syrian desert, which led to the martyrdom of 36 people (and) the injury of more than 50 others,” SANA said, quoting a military official.
It added that the attack also caused significant damage to the targeted buildings and surrounding area.
Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up such raids since the October 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian terror group Hamas that sparked the ongoing Gaza war. The Israeli military said last week it had attacked transit routes on the Syrian-Lebanese border that were used to transfer weapons to Hezbollah.
Hochstein’s trip to the region came as fighting showed little sign of easing, with at least 70 rockets fired into northern Israel on Tuesday, an Israeli reservist killed in a Hezbollah drone attack in southern Lebanon and a key Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Wednesday saw an apartment building in the largely evacuated northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona suffer a direct strike from a rocket fired from Lebanon. Photos and videos from the scene showed a hole blasted through the top story of a building.
There were no reports of casualties in the attack.
Earlier Wednesday morning, Hezbollah launched three drones from Lebanon at northern Israel, triggering sirens for 20 minutes in communities stretching from the Lebanon border down Israel’s coast to areas southeast of Haifa.
The IDF did not give details as to whether interception attempts were successful and how many of the drones crashed in northern Israel, though Hebrew media reported at least two impact sites.
Channel 12 news reported that parts of a drone were found in the Western Galilee town of Betzet, a few kilometers from the Lebanese border, while a second impact site was identified near Acre.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it fired suicide drone squadrons at military sites near Nahariya and Acre.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
A video online purported to show one of the drones flying unmolested in plain view near Haifa.
A drone launched by #Hezbollah from Lebanon has been flying around for a while through the north & making its way towards #Haifa.
The Israeli occupation army failed to intercept two drones that infiltrated from Lebanon & fell near #Acre.#Lebanon #Resistance pic.twitter.com/GpHORIcbpq
— ⚡️???? World News ????⚡️ (@ferozwala) November 20, 2024
Across the border, meanwhile, the Lebanese army said Israeli fire killed a soldier, a day after it said three other personnel died in a strike on their position in south Lebanon.
A soldier “died of his wounds sustained due to the Israel army targeting of an army vehicle” near Qlayaa in south Lebanon, the Lebanese military said in a statement.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported that IDF troops were “attempting to advance from the Kfarshuba hills… to open up a new front under the cover of fire and artillery shells and air strikes.”
“Violent clashes are taking place” between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, the Lebanese report added.
The IDF said on Tuesday that it had expanded its deployment in southern Lebanon, sending troops toward areas where attacks have been launched against Kiryat Shmona.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that US-led efforts for a truce between Israel and Hezbollah had created the chance for a lasting ceasefire, calling on both sides to accept a deal on the table.
“There is a window of opportunity that’s opening for a lasting ceasefire in Lebanon that would allow the return of those displaced, ensure the sovereignty of Lebanon and the security of Israel,” he told Europe 1 Radio. “I call on all sides with whom we are in close contact to seize this window.”
According to a report Wednesday by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, the main remaining point of contention in the talks is over who will enforce the agreement besides the US and France, with Jerusalem pushing for European countries and Beirut wanting at least one Arab nation.
The broadcaster also quoted an unnamed Israeli official saying “some progress was made on the matter of IDF freedom of action in Lebanon” during Hochstein’s meetings in Beirut.
Speaking to the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar TV channel, an official with the terror group said he was neither overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic about the prospects of a truce.
Mahmoud Qmati said that any deal must end fighting swiftly and preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty, an apparent reference to Israel’s stance that it must be able to resume strikes should the terror group threaten it again.
Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern Israeli 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 44 civilians. In addition, 71 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 some 3,000 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.
Agencies contributed to this report.
