U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein said Washington was seeking to end the war in Lebanon “as soon as possible,” emphasizing that the United States was seeking a lasting solution to the crisis, without providing many details on diplomatic efforts.
After speaking Monday in Beirut with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Hochstein suggested that ceasefire efforts focus on implementing a United Nations Security Council resolution that ended to the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
Resolution 1701 called on Lebanese armed forces and U.N. peacekeepers to constitute the only military presence between the border with Israel and the Litani River, about 30 kilometers to the north.
On Monday, Hochstein said Resolution 1701 would be the “basis” for ending the war, but he stressed the need to enforce it, which would keep Hezbollah fighters away from the Israeli border.
He said the United States was working with Lebanon and Israel to find a “formula” that would end the conflict “once and for all” and usher in a “new era of prosperity.”
Hochstein added that additional steps must be taken to ensure that Resolution 1701 is implemented “fairly, accurately and transparently, so that everyone knows what path we are on.”
Israeli proposal
It is unclear whether Hezbollah would agree to withdraw its forces from border areas. The 2006 resolution, which ended hostilities between the Lebanese group and Israel, did not provide a meaningful enforcement mechanism.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is primarily an observation mission responsible for supporting the Lebanese army. Its mandate only allows it to report military activities, not to confront Hezbollah.
And the under-equipped Lebanese army, deployed in southern Lebanon after the 2006 war, has historically not confronted Hezbollah, a group represented in the Beirut government.
The US news site Axios reported on Sunday that Israel submitted its conditions for ending the war to Hochstein last week, demanding that the Israeli army be allowed to “take active action” in Lebanon and operate in the country’s airspace.
The Israeli conditions, if confirmed, would be in violation of Resolution 1701, which calls for “full respect” of the temporary Israeli-Lebanese border, known as the Blue Line.
Lebanon has recorded thousands of violations of Directive 1701 by Israel over the years, including frequent violations of its territorial waters and airspace.
Hochstein declined to comment on the alleged Israeli proposal on Monday, saying he was trying to conduct diplomacy “in private.”
Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, was quoted by Lebanese media as saying that the meeting with Hochstein was good, but that it is the results that count.
Hezbollah began attacking Israeli army positions in northern Israel in October last year as part of a campaign it said was aimed at pressuring the Israeli government to ends its war on Gaza.
The violence has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Blue Line and has been largely confined to the border region.
But last month, Israel launched a massive bombing campaign and ground invasion of southern Lebanon, displacing more than 1.2 million people and transforming large areas of the country, including part of Beirut’s southern suburbs, in rubble.
The United States fully supported the Israeli campaign despite targeting civilian homes and residential buildings across the country.
‘Saddened’
On Monday, Hochstein, who previously served in the Israeli army, said he was “saddened” by the devastation in Lebanon.
The United States provides Israel with at least $3.8 billion in military aid each year, and President Joe Biden approved an additional $14 billion in aid to help finance Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which the UN experts have described it as genocide.
Washington has also refused to condemn apparent Israeli abuses in Lebanon, including the ongoing destruction of border towns in the country’s south.
Hochstein appears to blame Hezbollah for the war because the group has linked a ceasefire in Lebanon to the end of Israel’s war on Gaza.
“I want to be very, very clear: linking the future of Lebanon to other conflicts in the region was not and is not in the interest of the Lebanese people,” Hochstein told reporters.
Although Hezbollah supported negotiations led by Berri on the Lebanese side, it promised this month not to allow residents of Israel’s border towns to return home until the war on Gaza and the Lebanon.
Hezbollah has suffered severe blows in recent weeks, including the assassination of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as well as several of its senior political and military officials.
Nonetheless, the group was able to continue to carry out attacks against invading Israeli forces while sustaining constant rocket fire that reached deep into Israel.
Hezbollah said it had killed and wounded hundreds of Israeli soldiers in recent weeks.
In a daring operation on Saturday, Hezbollah targeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv, with a drone.
On Monday, Hezbollah claimed dozens of attacks against Israeli forces, including rocket attacks on their positions in northern Israel and the Syrian-occupied Golan Heights.
