This is where talks on a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah have stalled

BEIRUT (AP) — Diplomats and other officials say there have been several sticking points in ceasefire negotiations to end the truce. war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, even though the conditions for an agreement appear ripe.

The Israeli army killed almost all of them top leaders of the militant groupbut the country continues to fire rockets at Israel. Tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from the border months ago are putting pressure on their government to go home. And the world wants to prevent regional conflicts from spreading after more than a year of fighting.

After the last visit to the region by an American mediator, Israel struck central Beirut over the weekend, and Hezbollah responded with its biggest barrage in weeks while everyone was pushing to reach a deal.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost daily since the day after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, destroying the war in Gaza.

Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon two months ago, followed by a ground invasion. More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, including many citizens.

More than seventy people have been killed in Israel, including more than forty civilians. In addition, more than fifty Israeli soldiers were killed in the ground offensive.

View the proposal and the bottlenecks here.

A proposed two-month ceasefire should take effect

The proposal under discussion to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah calls for an initial two-month ceasefire, during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would reduce its armed presence along the southern border south of the Litani River would end.

The withdrawal would be accompanied by an influx of thousands more Lebanese army troops largely sidelined during the war, to patrol an existing border area UN peacekeeping force.

An international commission would be set up to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire and the UN Security Council resolution 1701which was passed in 2006 to end a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah, but was never fully implemented. Hezbollah never ended its presence in southern Lebanon, while Lebanon said Israel regularly violated its airspace and occupied small parts of its territory.

It is not clear whether a new deal would be implemented more successfully than the 2006 one.

Michael Herzog, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, told Israeli Army Radio on Monday that the deal aimed to improve oversight and enforcement of the previous resolution. Although he said certain points still needed to be finalized, a deal was close and could be closed “within days.”

A US official said negotiations continued to make progress on Sunday, but the sides still need to resolve a number of outstanding issues to close the deal. The official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the private conversations, declined to provide details on the outstanding issues.

Israel wants the freedom to attack Hezbollah and other dissenters

Two Western diplomats described several points of contention to The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss ongoing negotiations.

They said Israel was asking for more guarantees to ensure Hezbollah’s weapons are removed from the border area. Israeli officials, concerned about the possibility that Hezbollah would launch the kind of attack that Hamas carried out from Gaza on southern Israel, have said they would not agree to a ceasefire deal that does not explicitly give them the freedom to attack in Lebanon if they to believe. violates it.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive talks, said the issue remained a point of contention, although he said the talks were moving in a “positive direction.”

Lebanese officials have said that agreeing to such a deal would violate Lebanon’s sovereignty. Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem has said the militant group would not agree to a deal that does not include a “complete and comprehensive end to aggression” and does not protect Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Lebanon and Israel also disagree over which countries will sit on the international commission overseeing the implementation of the agreement and Resolution 1701.

In a sign of progress, Israel appeared to have dropped its opposition to France, which has remained closely allied with Lebanon since the end of its colonial rule there and has recently come into conflict with Israel.

On Monday, an official familiar with the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they discussed behind-the-scenes negotiations, said France would be part of the monitoring committee. Lebanon’s deputy parliament speaker Elias Bousaab also said Israel has accepted France.

But Lebanon has refused to admit Britain, a close ally of Israel. It was unclear Monday whether Lebanese officials had dropped their opposition after Israel’s concession.

Meanwhile, Israel will not enter into negotiations on 13 disputed points along the border as part of a ceasefire, the diplomats said.

Both sides have an interest in ending the war

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the strongest of them all Iran’s armed alliesis expected to significantly reduce regional tensions that have led to fears of a direct war between Israel and Iran. It is not clear what impact this would have on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Hezbollah has long insisted it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza is over, but has now dropped that condition.

One diplomat said there are fears that if a ceasefire is not reached, the war will spread further into Syria and Iraq as Israel tries to cut off the supply of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah. Israel has regularly carried out airstrikes on Iranian-affiliated groups in Syria and has threatened an attack in Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias have periodically launched drone strikes on Israel.

Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, said during a visit to Damascus on Sunday that ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon are crucial to “prevent Syria from being drawn further into the conflict.”

Meanwhile, analysts say Hezbollah has been weakened but continues to fire on Israel, including attacks far from the border.

On Sunday, Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel, wounding seven people in one of the militant group’s heaviest bombings in months, in response to deadly Israeli attacks in Beirut. Violent clashes continue in southern Lebanon as Israeli forces attempt to take control of strategic cities.

Israel says the aim of the war with Hezbollah is to allow displaced Israelis to return home safely. In Lebanon, a quarter of the population has been displaced and parts of the country, especially in southern Lebanon and areas south of the capital Beirut, have been destroyed.

In Lebanon, where officials and residents are eager for an end to the war, an initial wave of optimism faded after the Biden administration’s adviser on Israel and Lebanon, Amos Hochstein, left the region without a deal last week.

Many now believe an agreement will not be reached before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.

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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed from Washington.

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