Two of the main advisors of the Administration of Joe Biden they will reach Israel tomorrow to try to close an agreement to end the war in Lebanon and allow displaced civilians from both sides of the border to return to their homes, reported Axios.
According to the American media, which cites three sources familiar with this trip, the advisors who travel to Tel Aviv son Amos Hochsteinmediator for the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, and Brett McGurkWhite House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.
If the advisers were to reach a diplomatic agreement between Israel and Hezbollah during this visit, it would significantly de-escalate the regional war in the Middle East for the first time since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the sources said.
Israeli and American officials explained, according to Axios, that they believe that after the blows Hezbollah has suffered in the last two months, including the assassination of its leader, Hassan Nasrallahthe group might finally be willing to reach an agreement.
Axios recalls that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahucalled a meeting with several ministers and senior leaders of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and intelligence services on Tuesday night to discuss the possible deal, according to Israeli officials.
These sources assured that Amos Hochstein was, however, waiting for Israeli leaders to decide whether they could move forward with the agreement before traveling to Israel.
And the fact that he and Brett McGurk are traveling to Israel suggests that the country’s president, Benjamin Netanyahu, is in favor of moving forward with the deal.
Hochstein has been working for more than a year on a rapprochement that could end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has refused to accept a ceasefire in Lebanon as long as Israeli attacks on Gaza continued.
In recent weeks, after a series of Israeli military operations significantly weakened Hezbollah, the group began to change course.
Hochstein visited Beirut last week and received a positive response from Lebanese officials about the possibility of moving toward a ceasefire regardless of the war in Gaza.
On the Israeli side, there have also been signs of greater openness to ending the war in Lebanon, Axios acknowledges.
Israeli officials indicated, according to the specialized media, that the agreement being discussed is based on the reimplementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the 2006 war in Lebanon.
The agreement under consideration provides for a ceasefire announcement followed by a 60-day transition period, officials said.
During this transition period, Hezbollah would move its heavy weapons north of the Litani River and away from the Israeli border. The Lebanese army would deploy some 8,000 soldiers along the border with Israel, who would join UNIFIL peacekeepers there, and Israeli forces would gradually withdraw to the Israeli side of the border.
Hochstein and McGurk are expected to meet with Netanyahu and senior members of the Israeli government, and present them with a formal proposal for the ceasefire agreement. EFE (I)
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