The US is working on a 60-day ceasefire to end the war in Lebanon, sources say

Timour Azhari, Maya Gebeily and James Mackenzie
| Reuters

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, Oct 29 (Reuters) – U.S. mediators are working on a proposal to reduce hostilities between the Israeli army and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, starting with a 60-day ceasefire, two sources told Reuters. knowledge of the talks to Reuters on Wednesday.

The sources – a person briefed on the talks and a senior diplomat working in Lebanon – said the two-month period would be used to complete the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006 to keep southern Lebanon free of weapons that do. does not belong to the Lebanese state.

The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Resolution 1701 has been the cornerstone of talks to end the past year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which broke out in parallel with the war in Gaza and has escalated dramatically over the past five weeks.

US presidential envoy Amos Hochsteinwho is working on the new proposal, told reporters in Beirut earlier this month that better enforcement mechanisms 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 replaced a proposal from the United States and other countries last month that had called for a 21-day ceasefire as a prelude to the full enactment of 1701.

However, both warned that the deal could still fail. “There is a serious attempt to reach a ceasefire, but it is still difficult to achieve it,” the diplomat said.

The person briefed on the talks said Israel is still pushing for the option to “immediately enforce” the ceasefire through airstrikes or other military operations against Hezbollah if it violates the deal.

Israeli television channel Channel 12 reported that Israel was seeking a strengthened version of UN Resolution 1701 to allow Israel to intervene if its security felt threatened.

Lebanon had not yet been formally informed of 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 parallels a similar situation diplomatic attack on Gaza.

Axios reported that Hochstein and U.S. presidential adviser Brett McGurk will land in Israel on Thursday to try to seal the deal on Lebanon, which three unnamed sources said could be implemented within weeks.

According to the Axios report, Hochstein and McGurk are expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.

Israeli and US officials believe Hezbollah is finally ready to disengage from Hamas in Gaza, following some of the blows the Lebanese group has taken in the past two months. included the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, the Axios report said.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Timour Azhari, Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam in Beirut; James Mackenzie in Jerusalem; Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Lincoln Feast and Ros Russell)