Report: Israel gives US its demands for ending war in Lebanon
Israel gave the U.S. a document last week with its conditions for a diplomatic solution to end the war in Lebanon and allow displaced civilians from both sides of the border to return to their homes, two U.S. officials and two Israeli officials told U.S. news portal Axios.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office gave the paper to the White House ahead of President Joe Biden's envoy Amos Hochstein's visit to Beirut on Monday to discuss a diplomatic solution to the conflict, Israeli officials said.
The U.S. and Israeli officials told Axios Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, who is a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sent the document to Hochstein on Thursday.
Israeli officials said the paper came out of discussions Dermer had with the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Israeli army about the principles Israel demands be part of any diplomatic solution to end the war with Hezbollah.
One Israeli demand is that the Israeli army be allowed to engage in "active enforcement" to make sure Hezbollah doesn't rearm and rebuild its military infrastructure in the areas of southern Lebanon that are close to the border, an Israeli official said.
The official added that Israel also demands its air force have freedom of operation in Lebanese air space.
These two demands contradict U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which states that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) enforce a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
"We are talking about 1701 with increased enforcement. Our main message is that if the Lebanese army and UNIFIL do more, the IDF (Israeli army) will do less and the other way around," the Israeli official told Axios.
A U.S. official said it is highly unlikely Lebanon and the international community would agree to these conditions, which would dramatically undermine Lebanon's sovereignty.
Hochstein arrived in Beirut on Monday and met with acting prime minister Najib Mikati, speaker of parliament Nabih Berri and other Lebanese officials and discuss the Israeli demands.
Berri told Al-Arabiya on Sunday that Hochstein's visit is "the last chance before the U.S. elections to reach a solution" to the war in Lebanon.
He stressed there is consensus in Lebanon about U.N. Resolution 1701 and made clear he refuses to amend it in any way, which is effectively what Israel is reportedly demanding.
Hochstein is pushing for a wide-ranging deployment of the Lebanese armed forces in southern Lebanon as part of every diplomatic solution that ends the war in Lebanon, U.S. and Israeli officials say.
In recent years, the Lebanese Army had very limited forces in the area.
Hochstein wants to have at least 8,000 Lebanese troops deployed in southern Lebanon, the officials said.
The U.S. envoy also wants to upgrade UNIFIL's mandate so it would be able to help the Lebanese Army prevent armed individuals or groups who are not under the control of the Lebanese government from being deployed near the border with Israel.
U.S. officials say that since the 2006 war, UNIFIL barely enforced resolution 1701 and didn't prevent Hezbollah from building wide-ranging military infrastructure in southern Lebanon in violation of the resolution.
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