Israel demands right to enforce any Lebanon ceasefire deal

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Israel will insist on unilaterally “enforcing” any agreement that brings an end to the war with the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after meeting US envoys, doubling down on the most contentious part of a draft US ceasefire proposal.

A leaked draft of the proposal aired by Kan, the public broadcaster, the night before the meetings with Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk, gives Israeli forces the right to target Hizbollah “in self-defence against imminent threats to Israel” and allow its war planes to continue flying over Lebanon for “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance”.

Those conditions would allow Israel to violate Lebanese sovereignty at will, and are likely to be rejected by Beirut. In comments on Thursday, Netanyahu appeared to insist that retaining those sections was crucial for Israel’s engagement with the proposal, which would begin with a 60-day ceasefire.

“The agreements, documents, proposals and numbers . . . with all due respect, are not the main point,” he told military officers at a graduation ceremony. “The main point is our ability and determination to enforce security, thwart attacks against us, and act against the arming of our enemies, as necessary and despite any pressure and constraints.”

The Israel-US talks took place as seven civilians were killed in Israel by Hizbollah fire in two separate incidents, local officials said, including four foreign agricultural workers working near the border. Lebanon’s health ministry said 45 people have been killed in the country by Israeli fire in the last 24 hours.

In Lebanon, the leak of the draft plan, which would include the withdrawal of Hizbollah forces and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon, was seen as a way of damaging the ceasefire talks — or at least delaying their conclusion until after the US election next week.

People familiar with Lebanese government thinking said the draft was unacceptable since annexes would give Israel the ability to fire in “self-defence” at Lebanon and to ensure that Hizbollah “cannot reconstitute” in the south. A US “side letter” to Israel mentioned in the draft reaffirms these principles.

“Israel can’t claim control over the south and air space,” said one of the people. A second person said that while the draft as written was “not workable” it could provide a basis for further negotiations.

“It is very difficult for Lebanon to accept such terms and Israel knows that,” said Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center. “Even though the Lebanese state is weak, I cannot see any of the political parties in Lebanon agreeing to a compromised sovereignty, including the anti-Hizbollah crowd.”

It is unclear if the leaked draft was the same Netanyahu was presented with. “There are many reports and drafts circulating. They do not reflect the current state of negotiations,” US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said.

Although weakened by Israel’s offensive, Iranian-backed Hizbollah — which triggered the conflict by firing on Israel in the wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack — remains Lebanon’s dominant political and military force.

Hizbollah’s new leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech on Wednesday that the group would accept an end to the war should Israel want that, “but it will be on our terms”. Until there was a proposal on the table “we continue the fight and will not beg for a ceasefire . . . We will remain on the path of war.”

The US has for months been leading diplomatic efforts to end the conflict and avert an all-out war across the Middle East. The hostilities escalated in September after Israel assassinated Hizbollah’s then-leader Hassan Nasrallah, launched waves of air strikes across Lebanon and invaded the country’s south.

Washington’s push for a deal has focused on getting the warring sides to agree on the implementation of UN resolution 1701, which ended their last war in 2006. It called for the withdrawal of Hizbollah from Lebanon’s southern border with Israel and the end of Israeli flights over the Arab state. But it was not fully implemented by either side.

Under the terms of the US draft proposal, the US would have a greater role in overseeing the implementation of the deal, including the initial two-month transition period as the chair of an international “monitoring and enforcement mechanism”. This would also monitor any future violations once a permanent ceasefire is agreed.

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) would deploy to the south and work alongside the UN peacekeeping force Unifil in the region. During the initial 60 days, Lebanon would be obliged to “dismantle and confiscate all military assets, arms and infrastructure of all non-state armed groups in southern Lebanon”.

Israel would agree to a phased withdrawal of its troops from southern Lebanon in “no longer than” seven days after an agreement was reached.

Israeli officials say their prime goal is to ensure northern Israel is safe to allow the return of 60,000 Israelis forced from their homes by Hizbollah rocket fire. More than 1mn people have been displaced by the fighting in over the border in Lebanon, with the total death toll in the country since last October at 2,865.