POSSIBILITY FOR A TRUCE
White House envoy Amos Hochstein, the US official who has led several fruitless attempts to broker a ceasefire over the last year, told Axios earlier this week that he thought “there is a shot” at a truce in Lebanon soon.
Khalil said Lebanese negotiators had reached agreement on “a certain text” with Hochstein during his last visit to Beirut.
Hochstein had been due to communicate this to the Israeli side and then send any remarks back to Beirut, Khalil said. “We are waiting, and God willing, soon there will be the draft that he has reached,” he said.
Israel wants the right to intervene itself to enforce any ceasefire if it deems it necessary, noting the presence of UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon had not stopped Hezbollah from building forces in the area.
Khalil said “no Lebanese … would accept Israel having freedom of movement in Lebanon”.
He also said Lebanon had no objection to US or French participation in overseeing ceasefire compliance.
Plumes of smoke rose over Beirut as the strikes continued, while raids also reached southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil, where overnight airstrikes and artillery shelling inflicted heavy damage on buildings and residential complexes, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
The Israeli military said its fighter jets carried out a series of attacks in the southern Beirut area, targeting weapons warehouses, military headquarters and other infrastructures used by Hezbollah.
Five people were killed in airstrikes on the towns of Bazourieh and Jumayjimah, NNA reported.
Lebanese authorities have not yet confirmed casualties from Thursday’s strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been largely evacuated. According to Lebanon’s health ministry, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,365 people and wounded 14,344 across Lebanon since Oct 7, 2023.
Hezbollah attacks have killed about 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and southern Lebanon over the last year, according to Israel.
