Israel hands White House its difficult conditions to end war on Lebanon

The Axios website reported, quoting US and Israeli officials, that Israel submitted a document to the United States last week, which includes its conditions for reaching a diplomatic solution to end the war in Lebanon, and allow displaced civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes.

Axios website quoted unnamed Israeli officials as saying that the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered the document to the White House before the visit of President Biden’s envoy, Amos Hochstein, to Beirut on Monday to discuss ways to resolve the conflict diplomatically.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sent the document to Hochstein last Thursday, US and Israeli officials told Axios.

Israeli officials said the document was the result of discussions Dermer held with the Israeli Defense Ministry and the Israeli military about principles that would require Israel to be part of any diplomatic solution to end the war with Hezbollah.

An Israeli official said that one of the Israeli demands is to allow its army to participate in effective enforcement to ensure that Hezbollah doesn’t rearm and rebuild its military infrastructure in areas of southern Lebanon near the border, adding that Israel also demands freedom of action for its air force in Lebanese airspace.

Axios pointed out that these two demands contradict UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which stipulates that the Lebanese army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) implement the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday that the United States opposes the bombing campaign carried out by Israel in Beirut over the past few weeks.

“We’re talking about Resolution 1701 along with the expansion of enforcement,” the Israeli official explained.

“Our main message is that if the Lebanese army and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon do more, the Israeli army will do less, and vice versa,” he added.

For his part, a US official ruled out the possibility that Lebanon and the international community would agree to these conditions, which would greatly undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the White House and the Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment on the officials’ statements in the report.

Hochstein is expected to arrive in Beirut on Monday, where he will meet with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and other Lebanese officials, and discuss Israeli demands.

US and Israeli officials say Hochstein is pushing for a large-scale deployment of Lebanese Armed Forces in southern Lebanon as part of a diplomatic solution to end the war in Lebanon.

In recent years, the number of Lebanese army forces was very limited in the area, which was mostly under Hezbollah control.

Officials said Hochstein wants to deploy at least 8,000 Lebanese troops in southern Lebanon, and the US envoy also wants to upgrade UNIFIL’s mandate so it can help the Lebanese army prevent individuals or armed groups not under the control of the Lebanese government from deploying near the border with Israel.

US officials acknowledge that since the 2006 war, UNIFIL has barely implemented Resolution 1701, and hasn’t prevented Hezbollah from building extensive military infrastructure in southern Lebanon in violation of the resolution.

The Israeli military announced on Sunday, on the eve of Hochstein’s visit, that the Israeli Air Force had launched airstrikes across Lebanon against dozens of targets linked to Hezbollah’s bank (financial institutions), including a building in Beirut.

In turn, a senior Israeli intelligence official said in a briefing with journalists, “The bank operates independently of the Lebanese financial system, and isn’t subject to the supervision of the government or the Central Bank”.

The intelligence official added that Hezbollah’s bank receives hundreds of millions of dollars from Iran annually and has played a major role in financing the group’s operations.