US ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson submitted a draft truce proposal to Lebanon’s speaker of parliament Nabih Berri on Thursday, as part of an intense push to end the IDF-Hezbollah war, two political sources told Reuters, without revealing details.
There is agreement on certain elements of a deal, but also sharp disagreements over Israel’s security demand, that the IDF would retain the ability to strike at Hezbollah if necessary to prevent it from rearming.
Lebanese officials say that “direct enforcement” by Israel has not been formally floated to Lebanon, but that it would be rejected by Beirut.
“The idea that Israel can enforce at any time – that is unthinkable,” one of the political sources said on Thursday.
Samir Geagea, Hezbollah’s fiercest political opponent in Lebanon, told Reuters he opposed granting Israel that option but said Lebanon had little power to stop it, especially if an excuse remained in the form of Hezbollah’s armed presence.
Johnson has been a typical conduit for diplomacy with Hezbollah while Berri has been the Lebanese official most open to a ceasefire.
The written proposal was the first one Washington has submitted in several weeks, two senior Lebanese political sources said.
“It is a draft to get observations from the Lebanese side,” one of the sources told Reuters. Neither source could provide details on the contents of the proposal.
Truce initiatives
Truce initiatives so far have centered around better implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which set the ceasefire terms that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006. That resolution stipulates that southern Lebanon must be free of arms that do not belong to the Lebanese state.
Beirut has endorsed 1701 as the way out of the current conflict. Jerusalem, however, has demanded that it retain the right to carry out any targeting of Hezbollah if it violates the provisions of the truce or poses a threat to Israel.
Draft proposals leaked in recent weeks include details on a monitoring mechanism that could involve other countries. There is speculation that Russia could be one of those countries.
The draft was submitted following weeks of talks that included officials from France, the United States, and Israel. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer was in Washington earlier this week to discuss a ceasefire deal; French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot visited Israel last week.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar noted that “there had been progress and that there was a desire to reach an arrangement that would allow the residents of northern Israel to return to their homes safely,” when he spoke with Barrot on Thursday.
He stressed, however, that an agreement alone was insufficient unless it was “implemented on the ground,” according to a statement from his office.
This included “enforcing Hezbollah’s non-return to the border area with Israel” as well as “preventing future armament” such as “strengthening of Hezbollah through the Syrian border or other means.”
Sa’ar stressed the importance of the international community’s role in ensuring that Lebanon is restored to the Lebanese people rather than being controlled by the Iranian regime.
In Washington, deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that the US was pressing “aggressively for a diplomatic resolution” so that civilians on both sides of the border could return home.
“We also want to see UN Security Council 1701 effectively implemented, which would require Hezbollah to disarm and withdraw north of the Litani River. Certainly, we have not seen that yet,” he said.
Geagea told Reuters that Hezbollah should relinquish its weapons as quickly as possible, to save the country.
“With the destruction of all of Hezbollah’s infrastructure and its warehouses, a big part of Lebanon is also being destroyed. That’s the price,” he said.
Hezbollah’s critics in Lebanon, such as Geagea, say it unilaterally pulled Lebanon into a new war after it began firing at Israel in solidarity with Palestinian group Hamas following the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Hezbollah says it is defending Lebanon from Israeli aggression and has vowed to keep fighting, saying it will not lay down its arms or allow Israel to achieve political gains on the back of the war.
The intense pressure of Israel’s military campaign, which has escalated and expanded since late September to include ground incursions into southern Lebanon, presented an opportunity to get the country back on track, Geagea said.
“If the challenges and the prices paid are so big, then we can take advantage of them to get the situation back to normal,” he said, calling on Hezbollah and the Lebanese state to swiftly implement local accords and international resolutions disbanding armed factions outside the control of the state.
“That is the shortest way to end the war,” he said. “It’s the least costly way for Lebanon and for the Lebanese people.”
