BEIRUT – Diplomats and other officials say there have been several obstacles in the negotiations to end the war between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, as the terms of the agreement appear to have matured.
The Israeli army has killed almost all the top leaders of this group, but they continue to fire missiles at Israel. Tens of thousands of Israelis who have been displaced from the border in recent months are pressing their government to return home. And the world wants to stop regional conflicts from escalating after more than a year of fighting.
After a recent visit to the region by a US mediator, Israel struck Beirut in the middle over the weekend, and Hezbollah responded with more violence in weeks as each put pressure on a deal.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost daily since the day after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the war in Gaza begins.
Israel launched a bombing campaign in Lebanon two months ago, then a ground attack. More than 3,500 people in Lebanon have been killed, most of them civilians.
More than 70 have been killed in Israel, more than 40 of them civilians. In addition, more than 50 Israeli soldiers were killed during the ground attack.
Here is a look at the proposal and the sticking points.
The proposed two-month suspension will begin
The proposed ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah calls for a two-month ceasefire in which Israeli forces will withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah will end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.
The withdrawal will be accompanied by an influx of thousands of Lebanese soldiers, who have been largely sidelined in the war, to guard the border area and the existing UN peacekeeping force.
An international committee will be established to monitor the implementation of the cease-fire agreement and UN Security Council resolution 1701, which was passed in 2006 to end the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah but has not been fully implemented. Hezbollah did not end its presence in southern Lebanon, while Lebanon said that Israel is constantly violating its airspace and occupying small pieces of its territory.
It is not clear whether the new agreement will be implemented more effectively than the 2006 one.
Michael Herzog, Israel's ambassador to Washington, told Israel Army Radio on Monday that the agreement aims to improve the monitoring and implementation of the previous resolution. Although he said there were still some points to be finalized, an agreement was close and could be reached “within days”.
A US official said talks were continuing on Sunday, but the parties still needed to work out the remaining items to close a deal. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential discussions, declined to comment on the outstanding issues.
Israel wants freedom to attack Hezbollah and other dissenters
Two Western politicians described several points of conflict to The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss ongoing negotiations.
They said Israel is asking for more assurances to ensure that Hezbollah weapons are removed from the border area. Israeli officials, concerned about the possibility of Hezbollah launching the kind of attacks carried out by Hamas from Gaza into southern Israel, have said they will not accept a cease-fire agreement that does not expressly give them freedom to attack Lebanon if they believe it is Hezbollah. you break them.
An Israeli official, who did not want to be named because he was not authorized to discuss sensitive discussions, said the issue was still a matter of dispute, although he said the talks were moving “in the right direction.”
Lebanese officials said agreeing to such a deal would violate Lebanon's sovereignty. Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said the militant group will not accept a deal that does not include a “total and complete end to violence” and does not protect Lebanon's sovereignty.
Lebanon and Israel also disagree on which countries will sit on the international committee responsible for the implementation of the agreement and Resolution 1701.
In a sign of progress, Israel appears to have stopped antagonizing France, which has been close to Lebanon since the end of its rule there and recently clashed with Israel.
On Monday, an official familiar with these discussions, who did not want to be named because they were discussing the discussions that took place behind the scenes, said that France will be part of the monitoring committee. The Deputy Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Elias Bousaab, also said that Israel welcomed France.
But Lebanon refused to give in to Britain, which is close to Israel. It was not clear on Monday whether Lebanese officials had dropped their objections to the Israeli concession.
Meanwhile, Israel does not want to enter into negotiations on the 13 disputed border points as part of the ceasefire agreement, diplomats said.
The European Union's top official, Josep Borrell, who has a contentious relationship with the Israeli government, said Sunday during a visit to Lebanon that he was not sure Israel “has a clear interest in reaching a ceasefire.”
Both sides are interested in ending the war
The establishment of an agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, which is the most powerful armed group in Iran, is expected to significantly ease regional tensions that have led to fears of war between Israel and Iran directly. It is not clear how it will affect the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah has long insisted that it will not agree to a ceasefire until the end of the war in Gaza, but now it has dropped that position.
One politician said there is a fear that if an agreement is not reached, the war will spread to Syria and Iraq as Israel tries to cut off the supply of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah. Israel has been regularly attacking Iran-linked groups in Syria and has threatened strikes in Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias have periodically attacked Israel.
Geir Pedersen, the UN's special envoy for Syria, said during a visit to Damascus on Sunday that a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon was very important “to avoid Syria being dragged further into the conflict.”
Meanwhile, analysts say Hezbollah has weakened but continues to fire at Israel, including strikes far from the border.
On Sunday, Hezbollah fired 250 rockets and other explosives into Israel, injuring seven people in one of the group's heaviest strikes in recent months, in response to Israeli strikes in Beirut. Violent clashes continue in southern Lebanon as Israeli forces attempt to regain control of key cities.
Israel says its goal in the war with Hezbollah is to make the displaced Israelis return home safely. In Lebanon, a quarter of the population has been displaced, and parts of the country, especially in southern Lebanon and areas south of the capital Beirut, have been devastated.
In Lebanon, where officials and citizens are desperate for an end to the war, the first rush of hope faded after the Biden administration's chief of staff in Israel and Lebanon, Amos Hochstein, left the region last week without a deal.
Many now believe that no deal will be reached before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed from Washington.
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