Israel’s foreign minister on Thursday rejected global calls for a ceasefire with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, pressing ahead with airstrikes that have killed hundreds in Lebanon and heightened fears of a regional war. In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said that Hezbollah was “not yet ready to accept” the US-led proposal and that Israel would continue to fight until Hezbollah dismantles its weapons and halts its rocket fire against northern Israel.
The United States and its allies have pushed the proposal in recent days, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken playing a pivotal role in rallying support for it. His efforts landed him endorsements from the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, among others. The US also has enlisted the help of Hezbollah’s main rival, Fatah.
However, the Israeli leader’s rejection of the proposal didn’t sit well with US officials, who were unclear about what Netanyahu meant by his comments. The White House said that US Mideast envoy Brett McGurk and other top officials were holding discussions with Israeli government officials, including Foreign Minister Ron Dermer.
Sources familiar with the talks told CNN that a broad, multi-nation coalition was working to find a way to end the crisis and that there were still several unanswered questions about what would happen next. But they said the American delegation was confident it could get a deal.
Those discussions will be complicated by the fact that Hezbollah wants to maintain its deterrent against Israel, even as it is fighting for the return of tens of thousands of displaced residents of northern Israel who have been forced from their homes since the start of Israel’s air campaign. The Shia militant movement was created by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982 to counter an Israeli invasion of Lebanon and has since become Tehran’s most potent Middle East proxy.
The US-led initiative aims to find a solution that will enable the return of Israeli residents displaced by Hezbollah’s missile strikes in northern Israel without triggering a wider regional war, the source said. He added that Washington urged the parties to use the UN General Assembly session in New York this week as a forum to reach an agreement.
However, the sources acknowledged that it was difficult to predict how long the crisis would last and that a deal might not come before the end of this month or early next. They said they were aware that Israel’s military operations are running parallel to peace negotiations with Palestinian Hamas militants, which Iran also backs. “We believe the most important thing we need to do is try to keep these two processes moving simultaneously,” one of the sources said. “We can’t have one without the other.” They added that the White House believed the conflict with Hezbollah was vital to the negotiations. But they said that it is not clear whether the broader negotiations will include the threat of a US strike on Hezbollah’s nuclear program, which Israel says it needs to protect itself against.