Israeli source casts doubt on Lebanon deal as US official optimistic
An Israeli source familiar with the Lebanese ceasefire talks has cast doubt on the likelihood of an imminent deal, in remarks to CNN.
The source noted that while progress has been made, “Hezbollah’s refusal to accept Israel’s demand for the right to strike Hezbollah targets in the event of a ceasefire violation could jeopardize the process.”
Without this clause, the source added, it is uncertain whether Netanyahu can secure cabinet approval for the agreement.
Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli minister of finance, said on Monday that “full operational freedom” for the Israeli military in southern Lebanon is “a non-negotiable condition.”
“At the end of the war, we will have operational freedom in Gaza, and so we will also have operational freedom in Lebanon. We will not agree to any arrangement that is not worth the paper it is written on,” he said. “We are changing the security paradigm and will not return to decades of concepts of containment and threats without response. This will not happen again.”
In an interview with Al Araby TV, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati dismissed reports of demands to give the Israeli military operational freedom in south Lebanon as “speculation,” adding that he hasn’t seen such a clause in the proposal.
Speaker Nabih Berri, who leads the Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement and is an interlocutor in the talks, told Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Friday that the proposal he received from the U.S. does not include mention of Israeli military operational freedom in Lebanon, adding that the U.S. knows that such a demand would be “unacceptable.”
A Lebanese official who spoke to CNN also said the proposal does not refer to Israel’s right to continue striking Lebanon after a truce.
The source also said Hezbollah has agreed to separate its conflict with Israel from Israel’s war in Gaza. Prior to Israel’s all-out offensive in late September, the militant group had insisted it would only cease near-daily attacks on Israel’s northern-most territories once a ceasefire was achieved in Gaza.
According to multiple high-level Lebanese officials, Hezbollah had initially agreed to delink the two conflicts the night before its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in late September.
Mikati said that his government is in contact with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s team.
Another Lebanese source familiar with the ceasefire talks told CNN earlier that President-elect Trump has endorsed Hochstein’s ceasefire negotiations track, increasing the chances of its success.
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official told CNN that there is “no stock” in reports that Israel will try to delay a deal. “The Israelis have confirmed to us they’re ready to do it,” the source said.
A deal with Hezbollah would “send a signal to Hamas” that Israel and its partners will do their utmost to secure a deal that brings back hostages held in Gaza, the U.S. official said.
“If we have a Lebanon deal, we’re going to come down like a ton of bricks on Hamas to try to get a hostage deal,” the official added, saying that Israel needs “to turn this military success… into a strategic success.”
The U.S. official said that the region was in a deadlock as Hamas refused to strike a ceasefire deal that returns Israeli hostages, and Hezbollah had vowed to keep fighting until Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza came to an end.
While the U.S. is not privy to all of Israel’s military plans, the official said, “having the degradation of Hezbollah helps” to strike an agreement.
“To get a deal in Lebanon, Hezbollah has to be put under pressure,” the U.S. official said, adding that “Hezbollah cannot rebuild its massive military infrastructure” across the border with Israel.
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