Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the government was making efforts to bring peace to the country’s southern border during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, where Israeli troops and Shiite Hezbollah fighters have been fighting each other. TASS agency informs about this.
“According to the initiative of American mediator Amos Hockstein, Lebanon and Israel will start indirect negotiations on a ceasefire on the southern front during Ramadan,” he told Al Jadeed TV channel. “The dates will be specified in the next 48 hours, after all the details are clarified and the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip comes into force.”
According to the Prime Minister, “in order to establish stability on the border, Israel must stop hostile actions that violate Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and liberate the border areas that remain under its control after the 2000 evacuation.”
On March 4, Mikati held talks in Beirut with US State Department Senior Adviser on Global Energy Security Amos Hochstein, who is acting as a mediator in the settlement of border disputes between Lebanon and Israel. The American commissioner said after the meeting that “for the restoration of the ceasefire regime on the border, security measures are needed to guarantee the return of the displaced people to their homes”.
According to the Naharnet news platform, the US mediator conveyed to the Lebanese government a plan that envisages the withdrawal of Hezbollah’s armed formations beyond the Litani River and the deployment of 15,000 Lebanese army soldiers on the border with Israel, who will be supported by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.
As Mikati noted, the American proposals include the development of a program for the reconstruction of the southern regions, which will be financed by donors from Arab states and Western countries.
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