US gives Lebanon draft truce proposal: Report
The US ambassador to Lebanon delivered to Lebanon's speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri, a draft proposal for a truce between Hezbollah and Israel, Reuters reported on Thursday citing two sources.
Lisa Johnson, the US ambassador, met on Thursday with Berri, who maintains friendly relations with politicians across Lebanon's political spectrum including Hezbollah, to submit the written proposal.
"It is a draft to get observations from the Lebanese side," one of the sources told Reuters.
There were no details reported about what the proposal entails. Middle East Eye reached out to the State Department for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication.
Since Israel began its invasion of Lebanon on 1 October, the US has sought to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. So far, no truce has been reached.
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Israel has killed more than 3,000 people in Lebanon, and continues daily aerial bombings across the country.
Sources familiar with the ongoing truce talks previously told Middle East Eye that the Biden administration plan calls for a beefed-up UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, the Lebanese army deployed to the country's southern heartland of Hezbollah, and Israel to be granted more freedom to operate in Lebanon.
"Basically, it would turn Lebanon into Syria," a former senior official in President-elect Donald Trump's previous administration, who is familiar with the talks, told MEE.
"Israel could operate at will if it feels threatened as it does in Syria, but Hezbollah wouldn't surrender its de facto power over government, like Bashar Assad."
Another report on Thursday from the Washington Post stated that Israel is moving towards a ceasefire deal in Lebanon to give President-elect Donald Trump an early foreign policy win.
"There is an understanding that Israel would gift something to Trump … that in January there will be an understanding about Lebanon," an Israeli official told the Washington Post.
Trump campaigned on ending the wars in the Middle East but has nominated a string of officials hawkish on Iran and supportive of Israel's annexation of the West Bank.
Of the two conflicts, Gaza and Lebanon, Trump campaigned more on ending the war in Lebanon.
This seemingly stems in part from the influence of his Lebanese advisor Massad Boulos, whose son is married to Trump's daughter, Tiffany. Boulos campaigned with Trump in Michigan, a state with a high concentration of Lebanese Americans.
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