State Department touts ‘significant progress’ but says ‘we’re not there yet’
Israel is reportedly poised to sign a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah that would pause hostilities for two months, remove fighting forces from both sides of the war-torn border, and deliver “significant relief from the arms embargo imposed by the U.S. on Israel.”
Israel’s cabinet will meet Tuesday to discuss the plan, which White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said is “close” to being finalized. Still, disagreements between Israeli leaders and their Lebanese counterparts remain. Israel, for example, says it would reserve the right to strike Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon under the plan, a contention to which Lebanon objected on Monday.
The advancing ceasefire proposal comes amid reports that the Biden-Harris administration is delaying arms shipments to Israel, including critical MK-84 bombs, which are used to root out terrorist forces in multiple areas. The United States is holding up around 20,000 of those bombs, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News. Suleiman Maswadeh, a reporter for Israel’s public broadcaster, said that U.S. president Joe Biden has assured Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the ceasefire’s approval will bring “significant relief” from that embargo. Yinon Magal, a popular right-wing Israeli talk show host, said the deal would equip Israel with “armaments, missiles, shells, weapons.”
“Currently we are under an embargo,” Magal wrote in a Hebrew-language tweet.
In addition to the flow of weapons, the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces believes a deal would “refresh the forces” and give the Jewish state “time to arm and strengthen,” according to Israel’s Channel 14.
A State Department spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon that while “significant progress” has been made in recent days, “we’re not there yet.”
“We continue to work to reach a diplomatic resolution to allow civilians on both sides of the Blue Line to be able to safely return to their homes,” the spokesman said in a Monday afternoon statement.
As the outgoing Biden-Harris administration pushes to close a deal in its final days, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continued to intensify throughout Monday. Hezbollah fired 340 missiles and drones at Israel, wounding 11 people and causing “severe damage” in areas of Tel Aviv. Israel also continued to bomb sites in Beirut, hoping to root out Hezbollah’s remaining fighters before a ceasefire takes effect.
While the full terms of the peace deal were not immediately clear, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said his country would “maintain an ability to strike southern Lebanon under any agreement,” according to Reuters. Lebanon, however, objects to that characterization, suggesting that talks could still crumble as longstanding disagreements between the sides resurface.
Israel’s cabinet, which must approve the terms before withdrawing forces from the country’s northern border, is expected to sign off on the deal tomorrow afternoon, barring any last-minute changes.
The deputy speaker of Lebanon’s Parliament, Elias Bou Saab, told Reuters that “no serious obstacles” remain for a ceasefire to take effect “unless Netanyahu changes his mind,” suggesting Hezbollah could derail negotiations and blame the Jewish state.
Western diplomats working on the deal told the Associated Press that Israel wants a guarantee that Hezbollah’s weapons are removed from all border areas. That could allow around 100,000 displaced Israelis to return home after a year of near-constant Hezbollah bombings.
Israel remains concerned that if Hezbollah is permitted to keep its infrastructure in southern Lebanon intact, it would be capable of launching an October 7-style attack on Israel’s northern communities. The Jewish state wants assurances under any ceasefire deal that Hezbollah will recede deeper into Lebanon.
Another reported sticking point surrounds Israel’s demand that the country be permitted to strike again in Lebanon if Hezbollah violates ceasefire terms.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, who replaced Hassan Nasrallah after an Israeli airstrike killed Nasrallah in late September, said the terror group wants a “complete and comprehensive end to the aggression.”
Israeli reports on Monday also suggested that the country is pushing for the United States to remove some sanctions on Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad in exchange for Assad’s cooperation in preventing arms from being smuggled to Hezbollah. Such a move would also appease Russia, an Assad ally that has quietly been providing arms to Hezbollah.
Israel earlier this month discovered a large trove of “modern Russian weapons” inside Lebanon, with approximately 60 to 70 percent of Hezbollah’s weaponry bearing markings from Moscow. The trove includes antitank missiles and several styles of advanced rockets.
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