US envoy to visit Israel to try to secure truce in Lebanon

The US President's special envoy, Amos Hochstein, announced on Wednesday after his talks in Beirut that he would travel to Israel in an effort to reach a ceasefire in the war between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, which have again clashed in southern Lebanon.

The United States and France are stepping up efforts to secure a truce in the conflict that intensified in late September after more than a year of cross-border exchanges of fire between the pro-Iranian movement and Israel.

Hezbollah opened a front against Israel in the aftermath of Hamas' unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, which triggered war in the Gaza Strip, saying it was acting in support of the Palestinian Islamist movement.

The Lebanese Islamist movement and the Israeli army entered into open warfare on September 23, and the Israeli army has been carrying out incursions into southern Lebanon since September 30.

Having arrived in Beirut on Tuesday, Mr. Hochstein continued his negotiations in Beirut on Wednesday to try to reach a truce, after having declared the day before that a solution was “within reach” but that it was up to the belligerents to “decide”.

Following his talks, he declared that he would go to Israel “in a few hours to Israel to try to conclude this if possible.”

US Ambassador to Beirut Lisa Johnson presented a 13-point plan to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri last Thursday, including a 60-day truce and the deployment of the army in southern Lebanon.

On Wednesday, the Lebanese National News Agency (ANI) reported “heavy clashes” in the south of the country, adding that Israeli forces were trying to “advance toward the Kfarchouba hills” under heavy artillery and air cover.

This photo released by the Israeli Government Media Office shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R), Defense Minister Israel Katz (R) and Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi (L) during a briefing in southern Gaza City on November 19, 2024. © GPO – –

Hezbollah, for its part, assured that it continued to push back the advance of Israeli forces, particularly towards the important town of Khiam, about six kilometers from the border.

The Lebanese movement also announced that its leader, Naim Qassem, would speak.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Monday that Israel would “conduct military operations” against Hezbollah even if a ceasefire was agreed.

– Lebanese soldier killed –

The violence between Israel and Hezbollah has left more than 3,540 people dead since October 2023, most of them since the start of Israel's massive bombing campaign on September 23. On the Israeli side, 79 soldiers and 46 civilians have been killed in 13 months.

A photo taken in the Marjayoun region of southern Lebanon shows smoke rising after a strike on the village of Kfar Chouba, near the border with Israel, on November 20, 2024 © AFP – –

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Israel says it wants to push Hezbollah away from the border regions of southern Lebanon to allow the return of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel displaced by the movement's gunfire. In Lebanon, tens of thousands of residents have also been displaced.

The Lebanese army announced on Wednesday the death of a soldier in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, the day after a strike on one of its positions in Sarafand, a coastal town about forty kilometers from the border, in which three soldiers were killed.

For its part, the Israeli army claimed to have targeted more than 100 “terrorist targets” over the past day and to have killed two Hezbollah commanders last Sunday.

“There is no better solution at this stage than to respect resolution 1701” of the UN Security Council, said French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu on Tuesday, while on tour in the Gulf.

A document published on the Facebook page of former Lebanese President Michel Aoun (L) shows him during a meeting with US special envoy Amos Hochstein at his residence in Rabieh, east of Beirut, on November 20, 2024 © Facebook page of Lebanon's former president Michel Aoun – –

This resolution, which marked the end of the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, stipulates that only the Lebanese army and peacekeepers should be deployed on Lebanon's southern border, implying a withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters from the sector, but also that of Israeli soldiers from Lebanese territory.

– Seventeen dead in Gaza –

The situation in the Middle East has escalated since the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in Israel, which resulted in the death of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data, including hostages killed or killed in captivity.

On that day, 251 people were kidnapped. A total of 97 remain hostages in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army.

Doctors from the World Health Organization and the Palestinian Red Crescent prepare to leave in a convoy from the European hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, to evacuate patients and the wounded, on November 20, 2024 © AFP – Eyad BABA

In retaliation, the Israeli army launched a campaign of massive bombings followed by an offensive land attacks in Gaza, which have left at least 43,985 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.

At least 17 people, including a baby and a 15-year-old girl, were killed on Wednesday in new raids by the Israeli army, the local Civil Defense announced.

Mahmoud Joda, a Palestinian, lost his cousin and his uncle in Jabalia (north). “The strike happened at night. We were sleeping, we came here and found them dead,” he told AFPTV.

Displaced people use carts to move around in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on November 20, 2024 © AFP – Bashar TALEB

The Israeli army has for its part, reports the death of one of its soldiers in fighting in the north.

The UN Security Council is due to vote on a draft resolution on Wednesday calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire in Gaza, a new attempt to put pressure on the parties to the conflict that risks being blocked by the United States, an ally of Israel.

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