Middle East shows movement toward ceasefire

 NBC News:

A cease-fire deal to end the conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia was close but not complete Monday, three senior Biden administration officials told NBC News.

One official said "there are still a few issues left to be resolved," with another cautioning a deal "could still take a couple of days."

White House national security adviser John Kirby called the discussions "productive."

"But nothing is done until it’s all done, and it’s not done right now," he said at a briefing Monday.

The potential development comes amid a continuation of heavy strikes from both sides. Over the weekend, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 20 people in the Lebanese capital of Beirut while Hezbollah fired more than 200 rockets at Israel, leaving neighborhoods in flames, according to the Israeli military. More Israeli airstrikes followed on the suburbs of Beirut.
...

The cease-fire would be limited to Lebanon, meaning it would not bring relief to Palestinians in Gaza or the dozens of hostages taken by Hamas.

In a statement, the families of the hostages said they "strongly urge" any agreement to include a demand for the release of those who are being held.

"The October 7 attack, orchestrated by Hamas and supported by Iran, saw Hezbollah join the conflict, linking its fate to the war in Gaza and the atrocities of the October 7 massacre," the statement read in part.
...

This is a war launched by Iranian proxies.  Israel has responded against those proxies and to some extent with direct attacks on Iran.  Lebanon has been involved because the Islamists have taken over significant portions of that country leading to attacks on Israel.  Lebanon used to be a predominantly Christian nation.

See also:

ISW:

Israel and Lebanon are expected to reach a ceasefire agreement within the next few days that would achieve stated Israeli war aims.[1] The US-proposed ceasefire stipulates that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) will be the only armed actors operating south of the Litani River, thus requiring Hezbollah fighters south of the Litani to disarm or relocate. The agreement also gives the Lebanese government the sole authority to purchase or produce weapons in Lebanon, “dismantles” any armed group infrastructure south of the Litani River that does not belong to the LAF or UNIFIL, and requires all Israeli forces to withdraw from Lebanese territory.[2]

...

And:

 Freed Hostages Call for Action for Those Still in Gaza

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Washington Post: Some Democrats eye adding more justices to the Supreme Court to change its ideological bent The once-remote idea has gained the attention of liberals angered by the GOP push to remake the federal courts. Probably the easy way to defeat this court-packing scheme is for Trump to propose doing the same thing now.  It would lead to Democrat denunciations and claims that it would be wrong, thereby blowing up any attempt by them in the unfortunate event of Democrats winning a presidential election.
Read more

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Conn Carroll: A new survey of 368 midsize to large companies found that 29% of them are considering terminating their active employee health care plans when Obamacare is full implemented in 2014. Only 71% of employers surveyed said they did not expect to drop their health coverage, while 20% said they did not know and 9% said they were planning to exit. The latest survey, conducted by Towers Watson, echoes an ealier survey by McKinsey & Co. finding that 30% of private-sector employers were planning to drop their employee health insurance coverage by 2014. When the Congressional Budget Office crunched Obamacare's spending numbers, they estimated that only 7% of employees currently covered by employer-sponsored plans would lose their plans. ... This means the cost of the health care fiasco will be hundreds of billions more than estimated by the CBO and Congressional Democrat. It is also clear that Obama's pledge that you could keep your health care plan if you wanted t
Read more