BEIRUT: US mediators are working on a proposal to wind down hostilities between Israel’s military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, beginning with a 60-day ceasefire, two sources with knowledge of the talks told Reuters on Wednesday.
The sources — a person briefed on the talks and a senior diplomat working on Lebanon — said the two-month period would be used to finalize full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006 to keep southern Lebanon free of arms that do not belong to the Lebanese state.
The US Embassy in Lebanon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
UN resolution implementation
Resolution 1701 has been the cornerstone of talks to end the last year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which erupted in parallel with the war in Gaza and has dramatically escalated over the last five weeks.
US presidential envoy Amos Hochstein, who is working on the new proposal, told reporters in Beirut earlier this month that better mechanisms for enforcement were needed as neither Israel nor Lebanon had fully implemented the resolution.
The senior diplomat and the source briefed on the talks told Reuters that the 60-day truce has replaced a proposal last month by the United States and other countries that envisioned a ceasefire for 21 days as a prelude to 1701 coming into full force.
Both, however, cautioned that the deal could still fall through. “There is an earnest push to get to a ceasefire, but it is still hard to get it to materialize,” the diplomat said.
The person briefed on the talks said one element Israel was still pushing for was the ability to carry out “direct enforcement” of the truce via air strikes or other military operations against Hezbollah if it was violating the deal.
Israel’s Channel 12 television reported that Israel was seeking a reinforced version of UN Resolution 1701, to allow Israel to intervene if it felt its security threatened.
Lebanon had not yet been formally briefed on the proposal and could not comment on its details, Lebanese officials said.
The push for a ceasefire for Lebanon comes days before the US presidential election and in parallel with a similar diplomatic drive on Gaza.
Axios reported that Hochstein and US presidential adviser Brett McGurk will land in Israel on Thursday to try to close the deal on Lebanon, which could be implemented within weeks, according to three unnamed sources.
Hochstein and McGurk are expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, according to the Axios report.
Israeli and US officials believe that Hezbollah is finally willing to disconnect itself from Hamas in Gaza after some of the blows that the Lebanese group has faced over the past two months, including the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, the Axios report said.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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US working on 60-day truce to end war in Lebanon
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US working on 60-day truce to end war in Lebanon
- Lebanon conflict has escalated dramatically in past 5 weeks
- New proposal calls for 60-day truce, sources say
- Calls for full enforcement of Resolution 1701
Sudanese nomads trapped as war fuels banditry and ethnic splits
- War disrupts nomads’ traditional routes and livelihoods
- Nomads face threats from bandits as well as ethnic tensions
NEAR AL-OBEID: Gubara Al-Basheer and his family used to traverse Sudan’s desert with their camels and livestock, moving freely between markets, water sources, and green pastures. But since war erupted in 2023, he and other Arab nomads have been stuck in the desert outside the central Sudanese city of Al-Obeid, threatened by marauding bandits and ethnic tensions. The war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left nearly 14 million people displaced, triggered rounds of ethnic bloodshed, and spread famine and disease. It has also upset the delicate balance of land ownership and livestock routes that had maintained the nomads’ livelihoods and wider relations in the area, local researcher Ibrahim Jumaa said. Al-Obeid is one of Sudan’s largest cities and capital of North Kordofan state, which has seen the war’s heaviest fighting in recent months. Those who spoke to Reuters from North Kordofan said they found themselves trapped as ethnic hatred, linked to the war and fueled largely online, spreads.
“We used to be able to move as we wanted. Now there is no choice and no side accepts you,” al-Basheer said. “In the past there were a lot of markets where we could buy and sell. No one hated anyone or rejected anyone. Now it’s dangerous,” he said.
RISK OF ROBBERY
As well as the encroaching war, the nomads — who Jumaa said number in the millions across Sudan — face a threat from bandits who steal livestock.
“There are so many problems now. We can’t go anywhere and if we try we get robbed,” said Hamid Mohamed, another shepherd confined to the outskirts of Al-Obeid. The RSF emerged from Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, which were accused of genocide in Darfur in the early 2000s. The US and rights groups have accused the RSF of committing genocide against non-Arabs in West Darfur during the current conflict, in an extension of long-running violence stemming from disputes over land. The RSF has denied responsibility for ethnically charged killings and has said those responsible for abuses will be held to account. Throughout the war the force has formed linkages with other Arab tribes, at times giving them free rein to loot and kidnap.
But some Arab tribes, and many tribesmen, have not joined the fight.
“We require a national program to counter hate speech, to impose the rule of law, and to promote social reconciliation, as the war has torn the social fabric,” said Jumaa.
“We used to be able to move as we wanted. Now there is no choice and no side accepts you,” al-Basheer said. “In the past there were a lot of markets where we could buy and sell. No one hated anyone or rejected anyone. Now it’s dangerous,” he said.
RISK OF ROBBERY
As well as the encroaching war, the nomads — who Jumaa said number in the millions across Sudan — face a threat from bandits who steal livestock.
“There are so many problems now. We can’t go anywhere and if we try we get robbed,” said Hamid Mohamed, another shepherd confined to the outskirts of Al-Obeid. The RSF emerged from Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, which were accused of genocide in Darfur in the early 2000s. The US and rights groups have accused the RSF of committing genocide against non-Arabs in West Darfur during the current conflict, in an extension of long-running violence stemming from disputes over land. The RSF has denied responsibility for ethnically charged killings and has said those responsible for abuses will be held to account. Throughout the war the force has formed linkages with other Arab tribes, at times giving them free rein to loot and kidnap.
But some Arab tribes, and many tribesmen, have not joined the fight.
“We require a national program to counter hate speech, to impose the rule of law, and to promote social reconciliation, as the war has torn the social fabric,” said Jumaa.
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