Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States Amos Hochstein will abandon mediation efforts if Israel does not agree to cease fire in Lebanon in the near future. This was reported by Axios journalist Barak Ravid on his page on the social network X (former Twitter), citing an informed source in the US government.
“If Israel does not respond positively to the proposal regarding ceasefire agreements with Lebanon in the coming days, then it will abandon mediation efforts,” noted Ravid’s interlocutor.
According to him, Hochstein told the Israeli ambassador in Washington about this.
On November 19 , it was reported that Beirut and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah had agreed to Washington’s proposal for a ceasefire with Israel. A senior Lebanese official called the ceasefire effort “the most serious yet,” according to Reuters.
At the same time, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that there will be no ceasefire in Lebanon. Israeli troops will attack Hezbollah until they achieve all their goals, he emphasized.
The situation in the Middle East has escalated again after a series of explosions of pagers and radios in different parts of Lebanon on September 17 and 18. Since September 19, the Israel Defense Forces have launched airstrikes on the country’s territory. On September 23, Israeli authorities announced the start of a “preemptive offensive operation” against Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in Lebanon. The operation was named “Arrows of the North.”
