The United States and its allies have called for a ceasefire of 21 days on the border of Israel and Lebanon starting today. The pause has been supported by a twelve-nation contact group including the United Kingdom, the European Union and some Arab states when Hezbollah and Israel are in heavy combat. Attacks by Israel are almost 600 dead people and about 500000 displaced Lebanese civilians since Monday.
The joint declaration signed by the US President Joe Biden and the French President Emmanuel Macron called for safety and security and thus urged Israel and Lebanon to accept a cessation of hostilities in the next 72 hours. “Guns have been fired since October 7th, and more so over the past two weeks which not only threatens a larger war but threatens civilians as well,” said the leaders. They said the proposed ceasefire would lead to the success of diplomacy and “to restore people to their dwellings.”
The call comes after Israel’s military chief, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, indicated that massive airstrikes of Hezbollah in Lebanon could result in Israel’s forces penetrating enemy lines. The joint statement signed by the US and its partners pointed to the fact that the hostilities have raised the specter of “escalations” beyond the border in the Middle East region.
To date, official responses from the Israeli and Lebanese governments are still pending despite the international urge. A senior US official noted that Lebanon is currently being negotiated with, to assume that the Lebanese government, and not Hezbollah, will assume responsibility to counterbalance non-state actors within the country, BBC reported.
Earlier, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, also urged an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon stating that “it seems that hell is breaking loose.”
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in response to the attack the Prime Minister stated that these airstrikes are a clear violation of the country’s sovereignty. He hoped for a resolution that would force Israel to accept the ceasefire, saying: “We are dealing with aggressions that continue to challenge our sovereignty and human rights.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon argued that Israel does not want ‘hot war’ but defending its citizens is its ‘obligation under international law’.
On the other hand, the cross-border aggression continues whereby Hezbollah continues to carry out attacks on the Israeli military and intelligence targets.
Iran the main suppler of Hezbollah conducts criticized the airstrikes of Israel and stated that the Middle East is moving towards a ‘full-scale disaster’. Tehran also stated that it would assist Lebanon in trying to triumph over Israel by ‘any means possible’ should the latter escalate the attack.
The senior U.S. official added that opening up diplomatic space in Lebanon during this 21-day period will also open up space for potential for a ceasefire in Gaza which has remained out of grasp for months.
Israel’s war in Gaza, in response to a deadly Oct 7 attack by the Palestinian Hamas militants, has claimed over 30,000 lives, created a hunger situation in the area, left nearly everyone without homes and resulted in genocide accusations at the world court which is growing into an international probe Israel dismisses.
This is because the fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has generated concern of a broad conflict. On Wednesday, Israel expanded its air campaign in Lebanon and caused the death of dozens.
Israeli air raids in the past three days have focused on the positions of Hezbollah and have struck hundreds of targets far inside Lebanon where hundreds of thousands have been forced to leave the border areas and the group has retaliated by launching salvoes of rockets inside Israel into. People have been scores in Lebanon.
References:
- https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-allies-call-for-21-day-ceasefire-on-israel-lebanon-border-6652936
- https://www.reuters.com/world/us-france-allies-call-21-day-ceasefire-across-israel-lebanon-border-2024-09-26/
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