U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein said he will travel to Israel on Wednesday to try to secure a ceasefire ending the war with Lebanon's Hezbollah group after declaring additional progress in talks in Beirut.
The diplomacy aims to end a conflict that has inflicted massive devastation © Mena Today
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein said he will travel to Israel on Wednesday to try to secure a ceasefire ending the war with Lebanon's Hezbollah group after declaring additional progress in talks in Beirut.
Hochstein, who arrived a day earlier in Beirut, said he saw a "real opportunity" to end the conflict after the Lebanese government and Hezbollah agreed to a U.S. ceasefire proposal, although with some comments.
"The meeting today built on the meeting yesterday, and made additional progress," Hochstein said after his second meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, endorsed by the Iran-backed Hezbollah to negotiate.
"So I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can," Hochstein said.
The diplomacy aims to end a conflict that has inflicted massive devastation in Lebanon since Israel went on the offensive against Hezbollah in September, mounting airstrikes across wide parts of the country and sending in troops.
Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from its north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Hezbollah, still reeling from the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders, has kept up rocket fire into Israel, including targeting Tel Aviv this week. Its fighters are battling Israeli troops on the ground in the south.
Although diplomacy to end the Gaza war has largely stalled, the Biden administration aims to seal a ceasefire in the parallel conflict in Lebanon before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
"We are going to work with the incoming administration. We're already going to be discussing this with them. They will be fully aware of what we're doing," Hochstein said.
Reporting by Maya Gebeily
Hamas' acting Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said in remarks broadcast on Wednesday that there would be no hostages-for-prisoners swap deal with Israel unless the war in the Palestinian enclave ended.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a televised speech aired on Wednesday that his group had reviewed and given feedback on a U.S.-drafted ceasefire proposal to end fighting with Israel, and that a halt to hostilities was now in Israel's hands.
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.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.