US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that there has been significant progress in the negotiations for a possible cease-fire between Israel and the Lebanese Islamist organization "Hezbollah", reported Agence France-Presse, quoted by BTA.
US working "very hard" to reach an agreement that would include the withdrawal of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Islamist movement from the region bordering Israel, Blinken stressed at a press conference yesterday. "If we look at my recent trip to the region and the discussions that are taking place now, we will see that we have made good progress towards this goal," he added. But "we still have work to do,", the secretary of state acknowledged, calling for a "diplomatic solution, including a ceasefire.
White House envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk met in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek a way out of the more than a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah. According to Israeli media, the plan drawn up by US envoys calls for "Hezbollah" to withdraw from southern Lebanon and the Israeli army to leave the area, with control being retaken by the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping forces.
According to the document, Lebanon will have the task of preventing the arming of "Hezbollah" with weapons from abroad, and Israel will retain its right to defend itself in accordance with international law.
As Israel's main military backer, the US is not calling for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and supports Israeli strikes against Hezbollah, although it expresses concern for the fate of civilians, AFP notes. Blinken again called for the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the war between "Hezbollah" and Israel in 2006. Under this resolution, only peacekeeping forces and the Lebanese army should be deployed in southern Lebanon.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, present at the press conference, for his part, stated that there is a "possibility" for Lebanon. "We hope to see things improve in Lebanon in the not too distant future.
Blinken also called on Israel to allow the resumption of the polio vaccination campaign, especially in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, which was interrupted after intense bombing.
"It is important that this happens in the next few days and we expect Israel to facilitate this campaign," the secretary of state told a press conference at a time when, according to WHO data, about 119,000 children in northern Gaza are waiting for the second your dose of vaccine.