DAMASCUS – Israeli officials on Wednesday called for freedom to strike Lebanon’s Hezbollah as part of any ceasefire deal, raising a potential complication as a top US representative was in the region trying to make a deal.

The development came as an airstrike hit the historic Syrian city of Palmyra, killing 36 people, according to Syrian state media, which blamed Israel for the attack. The Israeli military declined to comment.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar each said Israel sought to reserve the right to respond to any violations by Hezbollah under an emerging proposal that would push the militant group’s fighters and Israeli ground forces out of outside. a UN buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

There have been signs of progress on the ceasefire deal and on Wednesday Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said the Lebanese militant group supported ongoing negotiations but had “some reservations” and rejected a provision for “freedom of movement”. of Israeli troops in Lebanon. .

“In any agreement we reach, we will have to maintain our freedom to act if there are violations,” Israeli Foreign Minister Saar told diplomats in Jerusalem.

Katz said that “the condition for any political settlement in Lebanon” is the right of the Israeli military “to act and protect the citizens of Israel from Hezbollah.”

Amos Hochstein, the Biden administration’s point man on Israel and Lebanon, has been working to push the sides toward a deal and is meeting with Lebanese officials this week. He said Wednesday he would travel to Israel to “try to wrap this up if we can.”

The emerging deal would push Hezbollah and Israel out of southern Lebanon

Hezbollah began firing into Israel on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas, after its attack on southern Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with strikes in Lebanon and dramatically escalated its bombing in late September, launching a land invasion just inside the border.

In more than a year of exchanges, over 3,500 people were killed in Lebanonmost in the past month, the Health Ministry reported, and more than 1 million people have been displaced. It is not known how many of the dead were Hezbollah fighters. On Wednesday, 11 others were killed in Lebanon, according to the ministry and Lebanese state media.

In Israel, more than 70 people have been killed by Hezbollah fire, and tens of thousands have fled their homes. Israeli police said a Hezbollah rocket landed in front of an empty kindergarten in the northern city of Acre on Wednesday, causing damage but no injuries.

Hochstein’s proposal is based on the UN resolution that ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. It stipulates that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers should operate in southern Lebanon.

However, Hezbollah never fully ended its presence in the south. Lebanon accuses Israel of violating the resolution by maintaining a small, disputed border area and conducting frequent military overflights.

Israel says Hezbollah has since built up a military infrastructure in southern Lebanon’s villages and towns.

The current proposal would include an implementation plan and a monitoring system to ensure that each side complies with its obligations to fully withdraw from the south. That could involve the United States and France, but the details are still unclear.

There has been progress, but no agreement has yet been reached

Israeli ministers did not provide details on Israel’s request to maintain freedom of operation. Since the 2006 war, Israel has struck Hezbollah on the few occasions when border violence has erupted, but any large-scale response could push the region back into turmoil.

Lebanon is also unlikely to agree to a deal that allows Israeli sovereignty to be violated. Hezbollah leader Kassem said on Wednesday that any ceasefire must include “a complete and comprehensive end to the aggression”, preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty and excluding any freedom of movement for Israel on Lebanese soil.

Although the proposal seeks to establish an implementation mechanism, the failure to fully implement the UN resolution after the 2006 war could indicate difficulties in getting the parties to support a durable ceasefire that would bring long-term peace.

Israel has continued to hit Hezbollahand rockets continued to rain down on northern Israel. Any perceived escalation could derail the talks.

Even with the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, the war in Gaza will continue

The war in Gaza is now in its 14th month as Israel battles Hamas in the territory. The death toll has risen to nearly 44,000 dead – more than half of them women and children, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their numbers.

Fifteen people, including five children and three women, were killed in various strikes in Gaza on Wednesday, according to an AP journalist who counted the bodies in hospitals.

Hezbollah has said throughout the Gaza war that it would not stop firing into Israel until fighting in the Palestinian territory ends, but that condition was dropped in September after Israel stepped up its offensive against the militant group, killing top management and degrading its. military capabilities.

That leaves Gaza waiting for a ceasefire of its own as a humanitarian crisis has displaced much of the territory’s 2.3 million people and caused widespread starvation, particularly in the north, where the United Nations says it has virtually no food or humanitarian aid was delivered. for more than 40 days due to the Israeli army siege.

International mediation has repeatedly stalled amid disagreement between Israel and Hamas over whether the war should end as part of a ceasefire deal, with Israel insisting it wants to maintain a troop presence in certain areas.

USA on Wednesday rejected a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as it was not linked to an immediate release of the hostages taken captive by Hamas

Hamas started the war in Gaza when its fighters entered Israel on October 7, 2023killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250. About 100 hostages are still in Gazaat least a third of them are believed to be dead.

Other tumultuous areas of the Middle East are unlikely to be affected by a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, including Syria.

Israel frequently targets military sites and installations associated with Iran-linked groups in Syria, but rarely acknowledges the attacks. The death toll from Wednesday’s strike in Palmyra was unusually high.

Syrian news agency SANA said that along with the 36 dead, the Palmyra strike also injured more than 50 people and caused “significant material damage to the targeted buildings” and the surrounding area. Palmyra is known for its historic Roman temple complex nearby, but it was not immediately clear if the ruins were damaged.

The complex suffered significant damage years ago during the Islamic State group’s attack in Syria.

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Chehayeb reported from Beirut.

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