Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia that dominates southern Lebanon, has said it will stop firing rockets if Israel halts its war with Hamas in Gaza.
For nine months, Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia that dominates southern Lebanon, have fought a low-level conflict that has edged closer to an all-out war. Since October, both sides have fired thousands of missiles across the Israel-Lebanon border, wrecking towns, killing hundreds, displacing hundreds of thousands and leading both to threaten to invade the other.
Those negotiations would focus on the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters from the southernmost areas of Lebanon and the deployment of more soldiers from Lebanon’s official military, according to the officials. The talks would also focus on how to demarcate the westernmost parts of the border between the two countries, the officials said; the border has never formally been delineated because the two countries have no diplomatic relationship.
The sides last fought a major land war in 2006, in a month-long conflict in which Israel devastated large parts of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, and southern Lebanon. The scale of the destruction led Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to subsequently concede that his group would not have kidnapped and killed several Israeli soldiers that summer had it known it would set off such carnage.
More than 460 people in Lebanon have been killed, most of them militants. More than 100 were civilians, including 12 children and 21 health workers, according to the UN and Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Strikes on Israel have killed 21 Israeli soldiers and eight civilians, according to the Israeli government.
Since the start of June, the Israeli military has killed two senior Hezbollah commanders and said it had finalised plans for an “offensive” in Lebanon. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the country was “very close to the moment of decision to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon”.During the same period, Hezbollah has fired two of its largest barrages since the start of the war, sending hundreds of rockets into Israel.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Israel-Gaza war live: Palestinians flee as Israeli forces launch fresh strikes in northern GazaIsraeli military issues evacuation order for Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighbourhood while Palestinian emergency service says attacks killed at least seven people
Read more »
Israeli attack on Gaza City continues as Hamas says ceasefire efforts at riskNew wave of displacement as airstrikes hit northern and central Gaza and IDF says forces engaged in ‘close-quarter combat’
Read more »
Israeli defence minister flies to US for ‘critical’ talks on Gaza and LebanonYoav Gallant to meet top officials as Benjamin Netanyahu repeats claim of ‘dramatic drop’ in US arms shipments
Read more »
Israeli air strike on UNRWA aid centre in Gaza kills eight peopleEight Palestinians are killed in an Israeli air strike at a United Nations aid centre housing displaced families near Gaza City.
Read more »
Israeli air strike on UNRWA aid centre in Gaza kills eight people, witnesses sayEight Palestinians are killed in an Israeli air strike at a United Nations aid centre housing displaced families near Gaza City.
Read more »
Exclusive: Israeli documents show expansive government effort to shape US discourse around Gaza warAs the Gaza war wages, Israeli funds target US college campuses and push to redefine antisemitism in US law
Read more »