WASHINGTON: The White House said Thursday that Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar involving top US officials had a “promising start” but that it did not expect to close a deal immediately.
“Today is a promising start,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, who confirmed that the talks opened in Doha involving CIA Director William Burns.
“There remains a lot of work to do. Given the complexity of the agreement, we do not anticipate coming out of these talks today with a deal,” he said.
Kirby said he expected the talks to continue on Friday.
“This is vital work. Remaining obstacles can be overcome, and we must bring this process to a close,” he said.
“We need to see the hostages released, relief for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, security for Israel and lower tensions in the region, and we need to see those things as soon as possible.”
White House sees ‘promising start’ at Gaza talks in Doha
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White House sees ‘promising start’ at Gaza talks in Doha
- “There remains a lot of work to do,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby
Lebanese government imposes immediate ban on Hezbollah’s military activities
BERUIT: Lebanon's government said Hezbollah’s overnight attack against Israel were “illegal” and imposed an immediate ban on the group’s military activities, while also demanding its hand over its weapons.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said only the state could decide whether to go to war and called on the Lebanese military to prevent the firing of projectiles and detain anyone involved.
The move comes after Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel, provoking retaliatory Israeli strikes. The government convened for five hours and 15 minutes in an early morning meeting on Monday before reaching its decision.
The Lebanese cabinet meeting, chaired by President Joseph Aoun, started at 8am with ministers discussing the repercussions Hezbollah's launching of missiles from southern Lebanon into Israel and the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
Sources initially told Arab News that ministers were “pushing for a decisive response to Hezbollah’s recklessness, regardless of the consequences.”
Lebanese MP Melhem Khalaf said the priority was to “shelter people that are evacuating their homes in relatively safe places. What happened at dawn on Monday has taken us from one stage to another, and we don't know where they've taken us.”
As US-Israeli attacks on Iran continued, Hezbollah said it fired missiles from Lebanon into Israel early Monday in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and “repeated Israeli aggressions.”
There were no reports of injuries or damage, and Israel said it had intercepted one projectile, while several fell in open areas.
Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon, killing at least 31 people and wounding 149 others, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Around two thirds of the dead were in the south of the country.
Lebanon’s government said it was holding an emergency meeting after Hezbollah’s attack triggered the Israeli airstrikes.
Iran has been firing missiles at Israel and Arab states in a counter-offensive since the joint America-Israeli attack Saturday that killed Khamenei and other top Iranian officials. The war has quickly expanded to proxy forces, including Hezbollah firing out of Lebanon.
MP Bilal Abdullah told Arab News: “All the appeals issued by officials in Lebanon not to embroil us in this destructive war seem to have been in vain. We were supposed to protect Lebanon.
“Whoever launched the missiles and drones from Lebanon has slaughtered Lebanon. Displacing people is a major tragedy. We are in the winter season, and the cold is severe.”
