Just a few days ago, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah had agreed to a 21-day ceasefire with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last week. Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told CNN.
The temporary ceasefire was called for by Biden, Macron and other allies after meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month. The demand for ceasefire arose when Hezbollah blamed Israel for this. Multiple explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies used by the group In mid September.
“We completely agree. Lebanon agreed to the ceasefire but (later) consulted with Hezbollah. The Speaker of the (Lebanese House of Assembly), Mr. Nabih Berri, consulted with Hezbollah and we informed the Americans and the French about this. What happened. And he told us that Mr. Netanyahu also agreed to the statement issued by both the (US and France) presidents (Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron).
According to the Lebanese foreign minister, senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein was scheduled to visit Lebanon to negotiate a ceasefire agreement.
Habib said, “They told us that Mr. Netanyahu agreed to it and so we also got Hezbollah’s consent to it and you know what happened since then.”
On September 27, Nasrallah was killed in a major Israeli airstrike on the group’s headquarters in Dahiyah, a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut. His death was first announced by Israel and later confirmed by the Iran-backed group.
A day before his death, the US, France, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Britain and Qatar issued a joint statement calling for a 21-day ceasefire. However, Netanyahu rejected the deal and said Israel would continue to deal with Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon.
Asked whether US influence was waning in the region, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Habib said Washington was “always important in this regard”.
“I don’t think we have any choice. We need America’s help. Whether we will get it or not, we are not sure yet, but [the] The US is very important, vital to the ceasefire,” he said.
Israel launches limited ground offensive in Lebanon After its successful airstrike on Tuesday in which Nasralla was killed. Since then, both Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters have been attacking each other.
More than 1,900 people have been killed and more than 9,000 wounded in Lebanon’s cross-border fighting in almost a year, according to Lebanese government figures, with most of the deaths occurring in the past two weeks.
The cross-border fighting comes as Israel has been fighting against Hamas in Gaza since October 7 last year, when the Palestinian group launched a surprise attack on the Jewish state.