The occupation army’s Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevy, said, “The probability of war on Israel’s northern front is now ‘much higher’ than it was recently.”
He added during his visit to training for reserve soldiers near the border with Lebanon, “Israel is increasing its readiness to fight in Lebanon.”
Halevy explained: “I do not know when the war will start in the north. I can tell you that the probability of it occurring in the coming months is much higher than it was in the past.”
He pointed out that achieving Israel’s goal of returning residents who fled amid clashes between Israel and Hezbollah “must come through a very major change.”
He explained, “We have many lessons learned from the fighting in Gaza, many of which are closely related to the fighting in Lebanon, and there are some lessons that must be adapted.”
Lebanese officials said that Lebanese Hezbollah rejected initial ideas from Washington to calm the ongoing fighting with the Israeli occupation across the border, which included withdrawing its fighters away from the border, but the party is still open to American diplomacy to avoid waging an all-out war, according to Reuters.
The US special envoy to Lebanon, Amos Hockstein, is leading diplomatic efforts aimed at restoring security on the border between Lebanon and Israel, at a time when the region is dangerously sliding towards a major escalation of the conflict in the context of the consequences of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
A senior Lebanese official familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking said: “Hezbollah is ready to listen.” But at the same time, he stressed that the party considered the ideas presented by Hockstein during his visit to Beirut last week unrealistic.
Three Lebanese sources and an American official said that one of the proposals put forward last week was to reduce cross-border hostilities, in conjunction with Israel’s move towards carrying out less intense operations in the Gaza Strip.
Two of the three Lebanese officials said that a proposal was also conveyed to Hezbollah for its fighters to move away seven kilometers from the border. This proposal leaves the group’s fighters much closer to Israel’s public demand to retreat 30 kilometers to the Litani River, as stipulated in a 2006 UN resolution.
The Lebanese officials and the diplomat said that Hezbollah rejected the two ideas, describing them as unrealistic. The party has always rejected the idea of laying down its arms or withdrawing its fighters, many of whom originally come from the border region and therefore live there even in times of peace.
A senior Hezbollah official told Reuters, requesting anonymity: “After the war on Gaza, we are ready to support the Lebanese negotiators to turn the threat into an opportunity,” but he did not address specific proposals.
2024-01-19 01:22:00
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