Sawt Falasteen - US envoy heading to Israel to press for truce with Hezbollah

The United States and France have spearheaded efforts for a truce in the conflict, which escalated in late September after nearly a year of deadly exchanges of fire across Israel's northern border.

Israel expanded the focus of its operations from Gaza to Lebanon, vowing to secure the north and allow tens of thousands of people displaced by the cross-border fire to return home.

On Wednesday, Hochstein met for a second time with one of his main interlocutors, Hezbollah-allied parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of the Iran-backed group.

"The meeting today built on the meeting yesterday and made additional progress, so I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can," Hochstein said in brief remarks to reporters in the Lebanese capital.

The day before, Hochstein had said an end to the war was "within our grasp", while Berri said the situation was "good, in principle" though some details remained to be ironed out.

A diplomat in Lebanon, requesting anonymity, told AFP on Wednesday that Hochstein and Lebanese officials had studied some modifications to the US truce plan.

During his visit Hochstein also met Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and army chief Joseph Aoun, as well as Christian political leader Samir Geagea.

What remains to be seen is the Israeli position on the plan.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament on Monday that Israel would "be forced to ensure our security in the north", and would continue to conduct military operations against Hezbollah even if a ceasefire was reached to prevent the group from rebuilding.

- Hezbollah chief speech -

Hezbollah began its cross-border attacks in support of its ally Hamas following the Palestinian group's assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Hamas's attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll from the resulting war has reached 43,985 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

Since expanding its operations to Lebanon in September, Israel has conducted extensive bombing campaigns primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds.

Israel has also sent ground troops into southern Lebanon, where it said Tuesday one soldier had been killed in combat and three others wounded.

More than 3,544 people in Lebanon have been killed since the clashes began, authorities have said, most since late September.

Among them were more than 200 children, according to the United Nations.

The war has weakened Hezbollah and devastated swathes of the territory it controls.

The Iran-backed group announced its leader, Naim Qassem, would deliver a televised address on Wednesday.

- Lebanese soldier killed -

With Hochstein in Beirut, the situation in the capital was relatively calm Tuesday and Wednesday, but south Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway, has seen battles and strikes.

The United States, Israel's main military and political backer, has been pushing for a UN resolution that ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006 to form the basis of a new truce.

Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces deployed in south Lebanon.

While not engaged in the ongoing war, the Lebanese army has reported multiple fatalities from among its ranks.

On Wednesday, the army said Israeli fire killed a soldier in south Lebanon, a day after it announced the deaths of three other personnel in a strike.

The Israeli military later said, without mentioning the deaths, that it was looking into reports of Lebanese soldiers injured by a strike on Tuesday.

"We emphasise that the (Israeli army) is operating precisely against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and is not operating against the Lebanon Armed Forces," the military told AFP in a statement.

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported Israeli shelling and air strikes in south Lebanon overnight and on Wednesday, saying Israeli troops were seeking to advance further near the town of Khiam.

Hezbollah said Wednesday that it had twice targeted Israeli troops near the flashpoint border town, home to an infamous former detention centre that was shut down after the end of the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon in 2000.

The NNA said that Israel forces were "attempting to advance from the Kfarshuba hills... to open up a new front under the cover of fire and artillery shells and air strikes".

"Violent clashes are taking place" between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, it added.

Israel said Wednesday it hit 100 "terror targets" around Lebanon in the past day, including "launchers, weapons storage facilities, command centres and military structures".

Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it had launched drones at two Israeli military bases in northern Israel and fired rockets at the town of Safed.

O.Salim--SF-PST