Terms of Proposed Lebanon Cease-Fire Begin to Take Shape, Officials Say
The New York Times
Key details still needed to be worked out between Israel and Hezbollah, and disagreements could scuttle or delay any deal, the officials said. But some cited reasons for cautious optimism.
After weeks of deadly Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and punishing combat between Israeli forces and the Hezbollah militant group, the contours of a potential cease-fire agreement appear to be taking shape according to several regional and U.S. officials briefed on the ongoing diplomacy.
The officials cautioned that critical details around implementation and enforcement needed to be worked out and that disagreements could still scupper any deal. But some cited reasons for cautious optimism. The officials, from Lebanon, Israel, neighboring countries and the United States, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive and evolving negotiations.
The proposed agreement calls for a 60-day truce, during which Israeli forces would withdraw from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah fighters would pull back to the north of the Litani River, which runs roughly parallel to the Lebanon-Israel border, some of the officials said.
During that time, the Lebanese Army and a U.N. peacekeeping force would ramp up their deployment in the border zone, and a new enforcement mechanism headed by the United States would ensure that Hezbollah and Israel remained outside the area.
Israeli airstrikes over the past two months have decimated Hezbollah’s leadership, severely degraded its military capabilities and displaced hundreds of thousands of the group’s Shiite Muslim followers. That has pushed the group’s remaining leaders, and their backers in Iran, toward interest in an agreement that could stop further damage, according to officials who speak with the group.
In a video address on Wednesday, Hezbollah’s new leader, Naim Qassem, said his group had made some comments on the proposed agreement, showing that “we have agreed to this path of indirect negotiation.”
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