US applauds 21-day truce proposal to end Israel-Hezbollah conflict
The US announced a ceasefire proposal that would see the war that Washington failed to prevent between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel stop for 21 days and provide room for diplomatic negotiations.
A proposal devised by the US and France and endorsed by Australia, Canada, European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar was released late Wednesday.
Speaking at an emergency UN Security Council meeting, the top French diplomat, Jean-Noel Barrot, said, “It’s a demanding path, but it is a possible path.” The French foreign minister said he would head to Beirut next week to work with stakeholders. “We are counting on both parties to accept it without delay to protect civilian populations and allow diplomatic negotiations to begin,” he said.
The White House said US President Joe Biden met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to discuss efforts to secure a ceasefire and prevent a wider war.
Later Wednesday, the two leaders said it was time for a settlement on the Israel-Lebanon border that ensures safety and security to enable civilians to return to their homes, highlighting the escalation of cross-border attacks over the last two weeks. “We therefore have worked together in recent days on a joint call for a temporary ceasefire to give diplomacy a chance to succeed and avoid further escalations across the border,” Biden and Macron said in a joint statement.
A senior Biden administration official hailed the proposal as an “important breakthrough,” but stressed that it was only related to Lebanon and not Gaza.
The proposal calls for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for talks on a diplomatic settlement in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which put an end to the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. It will also give time to discuss the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2735 regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, which was based on the three-phase deal proposed by the US earlier this year.
Wednesday’s statement also called on the governments of Lebanon and Israel to endorse the proposal. Senior Biden administration officials who spoke to reporters after the announcement said they fully expected both governments to publicly support the statement.
“We are then prepared to fully support all diplomatic efforts to conclude an agreement between Lebanon and Israel within this period, building on efforts over the last months, that ends this crisis altogether,” read the joint statement from the ten countries and the EU.
Speaking after Barrot at the UNSC meeting, the deputy US envoy to the UN said a diplomatic solution consistent with UNSC Resolution 1701 remains the “only path to durably reverse the cycle of escalation and to enable displaced people in both Israel and Lebanon to return to their homes.”
Robert Wood urged the Security Council to lend its support for these diplomatic efforts in the coming days.
US prepares to evacuate citizens
Meanwhile, the US military stepped up preparations to evacuate American citizens from the Middle East amid the most intense cross-border fighting in years between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel.
This week, a small contingency of additional troops was deployed to the region to further augment the 40,000 American boots on the ground, around 8,000 more than were present before the Gaza war.
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Monday that “a small number of additional US military personnel” were being sent out of an abundance of caution.
US defense officials told Al Arabiya English that “dozens” of additional troops were sent to prepare for noncombatant evacuation operations, commonly referred to as NEOs, which the State Department would order if and when deemed appropriate.
So far, the State Department has not made that call, and the Biden administration is hoping it can broker a halt to the fighting in both Lebanon and Gaza.
“We’ve been preparing for evacuations and an escalation of conflict since Oct. 8,” one official told Al Arabiya English. “It’s obviously escalated much more in the last week, but there have not been any orders to evacuate yet.”
Sources were keen not to disclose details about the ceasefire proposal other than to say it linked a deal in Gaza to that along the Lebanon-Israel border. It is also expected to endorse UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which put an end to the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Despite repeated opposition to an expanded Israeli military campaign, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went ahead anyway. Some reports suggest the US implicitly approved the Israelis’ so-called “escalation for de-escalation” plan, something vehemently denied by several US officials Al Arabiya English spoke to in Washington.
After failing to mediate a ceasefire in Gaza over the last year and subsequent futile attempts to prevent a spillover into Lebanon and elsewhere in the region, the Biden administration now finds itself pressured to do more.
High-level talks have been held this week in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to come up with proposals that may be acceptable to the fighting sides. This includes reviving stalled efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza that would end the humanitarian catastrophe and return hostages held by Hamas.
Meanwhile, Israel’s aerial assault and bombardment of Lebanon has left almost half a million residents displaced.
Hundreds of civilians, including women and children, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, which they claim is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
Towns that have no affiliation to or presence of Hezbollah have been decimated in different parts of the country.
Can the US stop a wider war?
US officials publicly state their hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza, no regional war and a two-state solution. However, critics on both sides of the argument say the Biden administration is widely to blame for the chaos that has drowned the region.
On the one hand, they have not exercised any leverage or pressure on Israel except for withholding one shipment of bombs deemed unnecessary for its self-defense.
On the other hand, the administration’s relaxed pressure campaign on Iran is also being blamed for empowering and emboldening both Tehran and its proxies around the Middle East.
In the meantime, US officials and diplomats shuttling back and forth to the region have been blindsided and kept in the dark about Israeli plans due to the Netanyahu government’s frustration with Biden and his team.
US officials have stepped up the intensity and seriousness of their talks this week, realizing the magnitude of what could unfold if the Hezbollah-Israel fighting is not stopped.
While the US has not seen any force posture changes by Iran to suggest that it is preparing to enter the fray, that fear persists. The biggest concern is whether Netanyahu increases the intensity of his already wide-scale bombing campaign in Lebanon. Hezbollah has largely contained its targets inside Israel to military sites and infrastructure, but that could change.
The US remains adamant that it will not put boots on the ground to support any Israeli offensive operations. They continue to provide and share intelligence with Israel on incoming rockets, missiles and drones launched by Hezbollah missiles and drones from, officials told Al Arabiya English. However, the officials reiterated that the US was not participating or playing any role in the Israeli operations or attacks.
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters on Wednesday that the US was not supporting Israeli operations in Lebanon with any intelligence support. “When it comes to Lebanon, the US military has no involvement in Israel’s operations,” Singh said.
On Tuesday night, the top US military general, Gen. CQ Brown, spoke to his Israeli counterpart about the need to de-escalate tensions through a diplomatic solution.
“The US continues to work with international allies and partners to avoid wider conflict in the region and remains postured to protect US forces,” Joint Staff Spokesman Jereal Dorsey said in a readout of the call.
