BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: US mediators are working on a proposal to halt hostilities between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, starting with a 60-day ceasefire, two sources said on Wednesday (Oct 30), as Israel pressed its offensive by bombarding Lebanon’s historic city of Baalbek.
The sources, a person briefed on the talks and a senior diplomat working on Lebanon, told Reuters the two-month period would be used to finalise full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006 to keep southern Lebanon free of arms outside state control.
The White House said that officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein would visit Israel on Thursday. A US official had said they would be there to discuss a range of issues “including Gaza, Lebanon, hostages, Iran and broader regional matters”.
Hezbollah’s new leader Naim Qassem said the Iran-backed armed group would agree to a ceasefire within certain parameters if Israel wanted to stop the war, but that Israel had so far not agreed to any proposal that could be discussed.
It was Qassem’s first speech as secretary-general, a day after Hezbollah announced his election to the post after Israel assassinated the group’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The latest ceasefire efforts come as Israel’s operation against the heavily armed, Shi’ite Muslim militia Hezbollah in Lebanon continues to expand.
Its army launched heavy airstrikes on Wednesday on the eastern city of Baalbek, famed for its Roman temples, and nearby villages, security sources told Reuters, following an Israeli evacuation order. Tens of thousands of mostly Shi’ite Lebanese, including many who had sought shelter in Baalbek from other areas, fled after the warning was issued.
Bilal Raad, regional head of the Lebanese civil defence, said the largely volunteer force had been calling on residents to leave via megaphones after receiving phone calls from someone identifying themselves as being from the Israeli military.
