BEIRUT (Reuters) – Indirect talks on an end to hostilities along the Lebanese-Israeli border will begin during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which starts next week, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati said on Tuesday.
Powerful Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire for nearly five months in parallel with the Gaza war, prompting diplomatic efforts aimed at staving off an escalation.
In an interview Tuesday night with local Lebanese broadcaster Al Jadeed, Mikati said Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri – who is close to Hezbollah – was studying a proposal suggested verbally by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who was in Beirut on Monday.
Mikati said the proposal centered on how to fully implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the month-long war fought in 2006 between Hezbollah and Israel.
It calls for a withdrawal of non-state armed actors from southern Lebanon and a deployment of up to 15,000 Lebanese army troops. Lebanon has accused Israel of violating the resolution more than 30,000 times, and says it would be ready to implement it fully.
Mikati said he planned to speak to Hochstein within the next 48 hours about the proposal, particularly to learn Israel’s position as the U.S. envoy traveled on to Tel Aviv from Beirut.
He said the timeline for implementation was “elastic.”
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam; Editing by David Gregorio)
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