Middle East: Lebanese PM hopeful for cease-fire in days

Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in an interview on Wednesday that he was "cautiously optimistic" after talks with US envoy Amos Hochstein about an apparent new push for a cease-fire deal with Israel. 

"We are doing our best ... to have a cease-fire within the coming hours or days," Mikati said during a televised interview with Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed.

Hezbollah's newly chosen leader Naim Qassem had also hinted at the possibility of a cease-fire deal in his first speech since taking over on Wednesday. 

"If the Israelis decide they want to stop the aggression, we say we accept, but under the conditions that we see as appropriate and suitable," Qassem had said, albeit also saying Hezbollah would not "beg for a cease-fire." 

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen had said on Israeli public radio that the country's security cabinet was meeting to discuss what terms it might offer in a bid to secure a truce, but he also said "I think it will still take time." 

After talks in the White House with President Joe Biden on Wednesday, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said he was "quite optimistic" that a cease-fire deal for Lebanon could be reached quickly, perhaps within a week or two. 

"The most important priority of the international community now is to have a cease-fire in the region," Christodoulides said. 

The Cypriot leader, in charge of the EU country closest to Gaza, is visiting the US amid a renewed diplomatic push by the Biden administration, with days to go until elections in the US. 

Senior White House officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein were visiting Israel as part of a renewed push for cease-fire deals in both Lebanon and Gaza, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday. 

She also said CIA director Bill Burns would head to key negotiator Egypt on Thursday to discuss those efforts. 

US officials speaking off-the-record had reportedly outlined details of a potential proposal for a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon — and their comments appeared to match a draft document published by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, more commonly known as Kan, on Wednesday. 

Core fixtures of this unverified text included a cessation of hostilities, Hezbollah withdrawing from the south of the country and the border area, with only the Lebanese Army and international UNIFIL forces allowed in that area, and the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, among other things.

The US criticized Israel for not addressing concerns about a strike in Gaza that killed a large number of children.

The strike took place on Tuesday in the northern Gaza district of Beit Lahiya. The blast caused a building to collapse, leaving at least 93 dead, including a large number of children, Gaza's civil defense agency said. 

"They are not doing enough to get us the answers that we have requested," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.

"We reiterated that call with them today. We do not yet have an explanation," Miller said. 

"They have said to us what they had said publicly, which is they're investigating the matter," he added.

Miller said on Tuesday that the strike was "horrifying," adding that the US was seeking answers from Israel on the matter.

The UN Security Council expressed its "grave concern" over the Israeli parliament's adoption of a bill banning UNRWA, the main United Nations aid agency working with Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

In a statement adopted by consensus, the 15-member body urged Israel "to abide by its international obligations, respect the privileges and immunities of UNRWA and live up to its responsibility to allow and facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms into and throughout the entire Gaza Strip."

"No organization can replace or substitute UNRWA's capacity and mandate to serve Palestinian refugees and civilians in urgent need of life-saving humanitarian assistance," the Council said.

The declaration comes after Israel's parliament approved a ban on UNRWA from operating in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem, as well as prevent it from communicating and coordinating with Israeli authorities, a move that could essentially end its work in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Israel has accused UNRWA staff of being Hamas militants, linking several UNRWA members with the terrorist attack on southern Israel in October 7, which sparked the war in Gaza.

But UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that a potential Israeli ban on UNRWA would violate international law, along with the founding UN Charter and a 1946 UN convention on the diplomatic privileges and immunities granted to UN operations.

Israel's army issued an evacuation warning for residents in the city of Baalbeck in eastern Lebanon, along with surrounding areas and key routes in the Bekaa Valley.

Under the area marked for evacuation was the city's ancient Roman temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Following the evacuation, a series of strikes were reported near Baalbeck and nearby villages in eastern Lebanon, security sources and witnesses said.

The strikes happened at the same time as newly-appointed Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Kassem gave his first televised speech. 

Most of Baalbeck's residents are said to have fled the city after the Israeli army issued the warning. 

Hezbollah's newly appointed Secretary-General Naim Kassem said on Wednesday that the organization was open to ending the war with Israel under certain conditions.

Kassem was chosen by Hezbollah's decision-making Shura Council to succeed longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month. The 71-year-old has insisted he will follow his predecessor's "work program," adding that Hezbollah could continue to resist Israel's air and ground attacks inside Lebanon for months to come.

"If the Israelis decide that they want to stop the aggression, we will accept that if we find the terms to be acceptable," Kassem said in his first televised speech as Hezbollah leader.

He clarified that his organization would not "beg for a cease-fire" and said Hezbollah had not yet received a credible proposition from Israel.

Kassem doubled down on Hezbollah's decision to open a "solidarity front" for Hamas in Gaza, saying the support for Gaza was essential to counter the "Israeli threat" in the region.

Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries. The EU lists the group's armed wing as a terrorist entity.

jcg/ab (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)