Lebanon’s caretaker PM Najib Mikati said Washington’s Middle East envoy ‘suggested’ a ceasefire could be within reach.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has expressed hope that a ceasefire to end Israel’s attack on Lebanon could be announced within days as Israeli media published what it said was a draft truce agreement providing for an initial 60-day cessation of fighting.
Mikati said he became more optimistic about the possibility of a truce after speaking on Wednesday with the United States envoy for the Middle East, Amos Hochstein, who was due to travel to Israel on Thursday.
“Hochstein, during his call with me, suggested to me that we could reach an agreement before the end of the month and before November 5,” Mikati told Lebanon’s Al Jadeed television, referring to the date of the US election.
“We are doing everything we can, and we should remain optimistic that in the coming hours or days, we will have a ceasefire,” Mikati said, adding that he was “cautiously optimistic”.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan published what it said was a leaked proposal written by Washington in which Israel would withdraw its forces from Lebanon within the first week of a proposed 60-day ceasefire.
The Reuters news agency obtained similar details regarding the proposal from two sources familiar with the matter.
media’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Beirut, said Mikati’s announcement on the possibility of a truce also came with caveats.
“He said that a ceasefire should come with American guarantees. But what that means remains to be seen. And he said that the Lebanese military will need additional hardware, additional weapons and logistical equipment as well,” Stratford said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Hezbollah’s new leader, Naim Qassem, said his fighters would agree to a ceasefire only if Israel stopped its “aggression” and if the proposal is seen “as suitable”.
“If the Israelis decide to stop the aggression, we say that we accept, but according to the conditions that we see as suitable,” Qassem said, speaking from an undisclosed location in a prerecorded televised address.
“We will not beg for a ceasefire as we will continue [fighting] … no matter how long it takes,” he said.
Qassem has replaced Hezbollah’s former longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on a Beirut suburb in late September. He had served as deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah for more than three decades.
His speech came as Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported that 30 people were killed in Israeli attacks over the previous 24 hours, and 165 others were wounded, raising the total death toll in Lebanon over the past year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel to 2,822 killed and 12,937 wounded.
Amid the talk of a possible ceasefire, Israeli attacks on Lebanon also expanded on Wednesday with heavy air strikes on the historic eastern city of Baalbek, famed for its Roman temples.
At least 19 people, including eight women, in two towns in Lebanon’s Baalbek region were killed and tens of thousands of people – including many who sought shelter in Baalbek from other areas – have been forced to flee the Israeli bombardment.
Bilal Raad, regional head of the Lebanese civil defence, said the scene was chaotic in the Baalbek region.
“The whole city is in a panic trying to figure out where to go, there’s a huge traffic jam,” he said in advance of the Israeli bombardment.
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