A U.S. envoy has arrived in Beirut to meet with Lebanese officials about a possible cease-fire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Amos Hochstein, a senior advisor to United States President Joe Biden, arrived Tuesday, a day after Hezbollah reportedly gave a positive response to a U.S. draft proposal to end the war, which has been ongoing for more than 13 months.
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The U.S. has been working on a proposal to end hostilities that would remove Israeli ground forces from Lebanon and push Hezbollah forces away from the Israeli border. More Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers would be sent to the buffer zone in southern Lebanon as part of the deal.
Hochstein’s main meeting on Tuesday will be with Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who is mediating for the militants.
Hochstein’s arrival came hours after an Israeli strike in central Beirut killed five people and wounded others. It was the third Israeli strike in the heart of Beirut in two days.
Since late September, Israel has dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon, vowing to severely weaken Hezbollah and end its rocket barrages into Israel.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, and drawing Israeli retaliation, on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas’ attack on southern Israel ignited the war in Gaza. Both groups are supported by Iran. The fighting has left more than 3,500 dead in Lebanon and almost 15,000 wounded, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. It also has displaced nearly 1.2 million, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.
On the Israeli side, 87 soldiers and 50 civilians, including some foreign laborers who work in agriculture, have been killed by attacks involving rockets, drones and missiles.
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UN peacekeeping force says it's maintaining positions in Lebanon
GENEVA — The U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, under pressure from an Israeli military campaign against militant group Hezbollah in its area of operations, says Argentina has asked three of its officers in the contingent to return home, while all other contributing countries are maintaining their commitments.
Spokesman Andrea Tenenti of UNIFIL said its “operational capabilities have not changed” after the move by Argentina, and U.N. forces have not moved from their positions – despite Israeli Defense Forces asking them to move from positions near the “blue line” along the Lebanon-Israel border about a month ago.
“The posture of our more than 10,000 peacekeepers from nearly 50 countries remain unchanged,” he told a U.N. briefing in Geneva by video conference from Beirut. The UNIFIL forces have not left the 50 positions across their area of operations, aiming to monitor and report on this situation since Israeli forces began their military campaign in Lebanon in September.
He said UNIFIL has limited means to monitor the situation amid the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. While Israeli forces have at times moved deeper into Lebanon, it’s not “permanently,” and the level of destruction in UNIFIL zones was “huge” and “shocking.”
Separately, UNICEF spokesman James Elder told the U.N. briefing that more than 200 children have been killed in Lebanon in less than the last two months, saying “their deaths are being met with inertia from those able to stop this violence.”
“It’s become a silent normalization of horror,” Elder said.
Tuesday marks 1-year anniversary of Houthi attacks on shipping in Red Sea
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of Yemen’s Houthi rebels beginning their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor.
On Nov. 19, 2023, the Houthis seized the car carrier Galaxy Leader in a helicopter-borne attack in the Red Sea. The ship and its 25 crew remain held until today, something the United Nations Security Council noted in a statement calling on the rebels to release the ship and its crew.
The Houthis have attacked over 90 commercial vessels in the time since. They sank two vessels in the campaign, which also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.