As Israel increased its air campaign on the organization’s assets overnight, U.S. ambassador Amos Hochstein will be in Beirut on Monday to discuss terms for a truce between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, two sources in Lebanon told Reuters.
No injuries were immediately reported despite Israeli strikes that occurred late on Sunday that targeted multiple Hezbollah-affiliated banking institution branches in Beirut, the southern region of Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley.
According to reports from Axios on Sunday, which cited two American and two Israeli officials, Israel has sent the United States a document outlining its demands for a diplomatic solution to end the conflict in Lebanon.
Israel has insisted that its IDF forces be permitted to carry out “active enforcement” in order to prevent Hezbollah from rearming and rebuild its military infrastructure close to the border, Axios reported, citing an Israeli official.
The article further stated that Israel demanded that its air force be allowed to operate freely in Lebanese airspace.
It was highly doubtful that Lebanon and the international community would accede to Israel’s demands, a U.S. official told Axios.
Fighting across the border between Israel and Hezbollah started a year ago when the organization started firing rockets into Gaza to help the terrorist Palestinian organization Hamas.
Israel began a ground offensive inside Lebanon at the beginning of October in an effort to stabilize the border area for its people who had escaped rocket fire in northern Israel.
Since the United States and other regional countries have been unable to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza for a year, many diplomats and Lebanese officials are pessimistic about the situation.
Israel has attacked dozens of sites in Beirut and southern Lebanon used by Hezbollah to finance its operations, with hundreds of residents fleeing after multiple explosions in the Lebanese capital. The Israeli military spokesperson stated that it would begin attacking infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, which the U.S. has said is used by Iran-backed Hezbollah to manage its finances. The organization has more than 30 branches across Lebanon, including 15 in densely populated parts of central Beirut and its suburbs. A senior Israeli intelligence official stated that the purpose of the strike is to target the ability of Hezbollah’s economic function both during the war and afterwards to rebuild and rearm.
Israel has intensified its military campaigns both in Gaza and Lebanon, days after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar raised hopes of an opening for ceasefire negotiations to end more than a year of conflict. With U.S. elections approaching, officials, diplomats, and other sources in the region say Israel is seeking through military operations to try to shield its borders and ensure its rivals cannot regroup.
(Reuters)
