France's foreign minister said on Wednesday that U.S.-led efforts for a truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon had created the chance for a lasting cease-fire and he called on both sides to accept a deal on the table.
Jean-Noel Barrot © MOFA
France's foreign minister said on Wednesday that U.S.-led efforts for a truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon had created the chance for a lasting cease-fire and he called on both sides to accept a deal on the table.
"There is a window of opportunity that's opening for a lasting ceasefire in Lebanon that would allow the return of those displaced, ensure the sovereignty of Lebanon and the security of Israel," Jean-Noel Barrot told Europe 1 radio. "I call on all sides with whom we are in close contact to seize this window."
The past few days have unfolded like a geopolitical drama of historic proportions in Lebanon, where Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia militia long considered untouchable, appears to be teetering on the edge of a seismic shift.
Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months despite President Donald Trump telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. was for now unwilling to support such a move, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
In a defiant speech on Friday evening, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, insisted that the group “will not allow anyone to disarm it,” rejecting growing internal calls for the Lebanese state to reclaim exclusive control over the country’s weapons.
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