BEIRUT, Lebanon: US special envoy Amos Hochstein said on Tuesday that he had held “very constructive talks” with the speaker of Lebanon’s parliament in Beirut and that there was a “real opportunity” to end the war between Hezbollah and Israel.
“I came back because we have a real opportunity to bring this conflict to an end,” Amos Hochstein told reporters after meeting Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation on behalf of Hezbollah.
“I’m here in Beirut to facilitate that decision, but it’s ultimately the decision of the parties to reach a conclusion to this conflict. It is now within our grasp,” he told reporters after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri.
Minutes after his remarks, Hezbollah media announced that the group’s leader Naim Qassem will give a speech on Tuesday.
Hochstein landed in Beirut on Tuesday hours after a proposal drafted by Washington won a nod from Hezbollah.
The visit indicates progress in US-led diplomacy aimed at ending a conflict which spiralled into an all-out war in late September when Israel launched a major offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Nabih Berri told the Reuters news agency on Monday that both the Lebanese government and Hezbollah have agreed to the US ceasefire proposal that was submitted in writing last week and made some comments on the content.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, the Asharq Al-Awsat news website reported.
The administration of US President Joe Biden is making a last-ditch attempt for a ceasefire as fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli military has escalated. Hezbollah endorsed its long-time ally Berri to negotiate over a ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday pledged to continue to “systematically operate” against Hezbollah even if a ceasefire deal is reached, Al Jazeera reported.
A diplomat familiar with the talks cautioned that details still needed to be ironed out and these could still hold up a final agreement, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
Berri’s aide declined to outline the comments made by Lebanon on the draft but said they were presented in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which was adopted following the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006, Al Jazeera reported.
The resolution calls on Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River – about 30km (18.6 miles) from the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanese soil and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south of the country alongside United Nations peacekeepers.
Meanwhile, violence continued in Lebanon. On Tuesday, emergency workers were still recovering bodies from the rubble after the Israeli military’s latest attack on central Beirut that killed at least five people, Al Jazeera reported. Hezbollah, meanwhile, launched a missile at Tel Aviv, wounding seven people.
At least 3,516 people have been killed and 14,929 wounded in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023.
