The US is tearing up Israel and Lebanon: a deal is within reach, Russia behind the scenes?: EADaily

The US President’s Special Representative for the Middle East, Amos Hochstein, is in Beirut this Tuesday, trying to persuade Lebanon’s Hezbollah (Party of Allah) to reach a cease-fire agreement with Israel. However, the peace between the parties in the armed conflict, which led to a ground attack on southern Lebanon by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) early last month, remains in doubt.

According to a Lebanese official quoted by CNN on November 19, the US-backed proposal aims to end hostilities for 60 days and is being discussed as the basis for a permanent ceasefire. The interlocutor of the American TV channel said that the conditions are in line with the parameters of Resolution 1701 of the UN Security Council, which ended the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war.

The decision of the world body’s Security Council, which is legally binding on the parties to the conflict, states that the only armed forces in the area south of the Litani River in Lebanon should be the army of the this country and UN peacekeeping forces. . The proposal also calls for the withdrawal of Israeli ground forces operating in southern Lebanon from October 1 and stricter compliance with Resolution 1701, the official said.

Meanwhile, an Israeli source familiar with the progress of the talks was skeptical about the likelihood of a quick deal, noting that Hezbollah’s refusal to accept Israel’s request for the right to strike Lebanon’s main Shiite group if it violates the cease-fire rest that could jeopardize the settlement process. Without this clause, he stressed, it is not yet clear whether the Prime Minister of Israel will be able to Benjamin Netanyahu get cabinet approval for the deal.

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrychin an attack outside its own territory, previously said that “full operational freedom” for the Israeli military in southern Lebanon was “irreconcilable.”

“At the end of the war, we will have freedom of operation in Gaza, so we will have freedom of operation in Lebanon,” – he said.

Another member of the Israeli government was recently appointed to the position of Minister of Defense Israel Katz Last week, he mentioned another condition for Tel Aviv before agreeing to a truce with Hezbollah: the disarmament of the Party of Allah. However, as reports from informed sources understand, this condition does not have the character of an ultimatum on the Israeli side, unlike the requirement for “full freedom of action” if the ceasefire fails. Netanyahu’s cabinet is aware that the demand to disarm Hezbollah first is unacceptable to Iran’s closest ally in the region and will only bring the talks to an end.

All is not clear with Israel’s position regarding the IDF’s “full operational freedom” in the north. Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati called statements about requests to give Israel military freedom of action in southern Lebanon “profit,” saying that he did not see such a clause in the peace proposals.

Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berriwho heads the Amal Party associated with Hezbollah and who, according to the same informed sources, is a key participant in the negotiations on the Lebanese side, to the Saudi media that did not give the proposal he received from the United States reference to Israel’s military freedom of action in Lebanon, saying Washington knows such a request would be “unacceptable” for Beirut.

A Lebanese source familiar with the talks told CNN that the president-elect Donald Trump agreed the “general course” of the ceasefire talks, promoted by US Special Representative Amos Hochstein, which “increases the chances of success.” “

Speaking to reporters in Beirut, Hochstein said a ceasefire was “now within our reach” but ultimately “it was up to the parties to reach a decision, ” reported Al Jazeera.

“Since there is time now, I hope that a bold decision will be made in the coming days,” – he said.

According to him, today he will meet the Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mykata and other senior officials in Lebanon.

“I am ready to do everything I can to work with the governments of Lebanon and Israel and bring everything to an end,” – assured America’s diplomatic “custodian” of the Middle East.

National Security Advisor to the President of the United States Jake Sullivan They admitted last Monday that they still do not have an agreement on a draft cease-fire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel, but the administration Joe Biden believes that “progress is being watched.”

“We think we’re seeing progress,” he told PBS News Hour. “We believe that both sides, both Lebanon and Israel, have indicated that they are willing to do this. And do it in a short amount of time.”

In the Gaza Strip, a senior US administration official said the Israelis had agreed to create a new route to deliver daily humanitarian aid to the enclave, which he said had led to a “significant increase” in aid volumes.

At the same time, the situation in Lebanon is becoming more and more reminiscent of the terrible images from Gaza, which has been living in a situation of humanitarian disaster for more than a year. In this case, the most vulnerable civilians will suffer again.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) sounds the warning that children in Lebanon are facing a “silent routine of horror.” Over the past two months, more than 200 people have been killed and 1,100 injured in Israeli strikes in Arab republics, according to UNICEF data.

“In Lebanon, as in the Gaza Strip, the unbearable is quietly turned into the acceptable. And the terrible trends are moving into the expected area,” said the representative of UNICEF James Elder at a press conference in Geneva, Al Jazeera reported on November 19. “And once again the cry of the children is not heard, the silence of the world becomes deaf. Once again, we let incredible people become the landscape of childhood. A scary and unacceptable new normal.”

In the first reports about the agreement being prepared between Israel and Hezbollah, Russia was named as another mediator in the status of world power, in addition to the United States. However, so far, Moscow’s mediation has not received official confirmation. According to a number of Arab experts, this can be explained by the current rather tense relations between Russia and Israel against the background of the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and the aggressive actions of the Israelis in Syria, where are they making airplanes near the bases. of Russian military personnel.

One way or another, Moscow’s role in bringing about an end to the next Lebanon-Israel war appears to be important to both sides of the conflict. In this regard, Arab commentators draw attention to the fact that there is a close military-political dialogue between Moscow and Tehran. It is assumed that the Russian side can bring a “special effect” on the Iranians so that they, in turn, persuade Hezbollah to accept the main condition of the Israelis: the removal of all units of ” Party of Allah” north of the Litani River (flowing through South Lebanon, about 30 km north of the border with Israel). Otherwise, Hezbollah will have a much tougher position than the Jewish state, up to and including its disarmament.

As part of the proposed agreement, Syria is expected to be responsible for stopping any transfer of weapons from its territory to Lebanon. Therefore, with the Russian military presence in the Syrian Arab Republic and Moscow’s influence on Damascus, the agreement seems to include international guarantees from the United States and Russia to prevent Hezbollah from to rebuild.