INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Lebanon&& s prime minister expressed hope on Wednesday that a ceasefire deal with Israel would be announced within days as Israel&& s
public broadcaster released what it stated was a draft agreement attending to an initial 60-day truce.The document, which broadcaster Kan
said was a leaked proposition composed by Washington, said Israel would withdraw its forces from Lebanon within the first week of the 60-day
It mainly lined up with details reported earlier by Reuters based on 2 sources acquainted with the matter.Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister
Najib Mikati stated he had actually not believed an offer would be possible till after Tuesday&& s U.S
But he stated he ended up being more optimistic after speaking on Wednesday with U.S
envoy for the Middle East Amos Hochstein, who was due to take a trip to Israel on Thursday.& & Hochstein, throughout his call with me,
suggested to me that we could reach an agreement before the end of the month and before Nov
5th,& & Mikati told Lebanon & s Al Jadeed television.&& We are doing whatever we can and we need to stay optimistic that in the coming
hours or days, we will have a ceasefire,& & Mikati said.The draft released by Kan was dated Saturday
When asked to comment, White House nationwide security representative Sean Savett stated: && There are numerous reports and drafts
They do not reflect the current state of negotiations.&& But Savett did not react to a query on whether the version released by Kan was at
least the basis for additional negotiations.The Israeli network stated the draft had been presented to Israel&& s leaders
Israeli officials did not immediately comment.Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have been fighting for the previous year in parallel
with Israel&& s war in Gaza after Hezbollah struck Israeli targets in uniformity with its ally Hamas in Gaza.The conflict in Lebanon has
actually significantly escalated over the last five weeks, with most of the 2,800 deaths reported by the Lebanese health ministry for the
past 12 months happening because period.Hezbollah did not instantly comment on the leaked ceasefire proposal.Earlier on Wednesday, the
group&& s new leader, Naim Qassem, said the Iran-backed armed group would accept a ceasefire within certain criteria if Israel wanted to
stop the war, but that Israel had up until now not agreed to any proposition that could be discussed.It was Qassem&& s first speech as
secretary-general, a day after Hezbollah revealed his election to the post after Israel assassinated the group&& s longtime leader Hassan
Nasrallah.Israel&& s operation against greatly armed Hezbollah in Lebanon continued to broaden on Wednesday as the Israeli army introduced
heavy airstrikes on the eastern city of Baalbek, famed for its Roman temples, and nearby villages, security sources informed Reuters.Tens of
thousands of Lebanese, including numerous who sought shelter in Baalbek from other locations, left after an Israeli evacuation warning.Bilal
Raad, regional head of the Lebanese civil defence, said the scene was disorderly
&& The entire city remains in a panic attempting to determine where to go, there&& s a substantial traffic congestion,& & he said ahead
of the bombardment.Lebanon&& s health ministry stated 19 individuals were eliminated in Israeli strikes on 2 towns in the Baalbek area on
Wednesday.It said 2,822 people have been eliminated in Israel&& s military project in Lebanon given that October 2023
More than 1.2 million people have actually been displaced.Following the airstrikes, the Israeli armed force said it had targeted Hezbollah
fuel tanks in the Bekaa Valley region.Responding to a question about Israel&& s bombardment of Baalbek, the U.S
State Department restated on Wednesday that Washington supports Israel&& s right to pursue genuine Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
However it stated Israel must do so in a way that does not threaten civilians, critical civilian facilities and considerable cultural
heritage sites.For a third straight day, Hezbollah reported extreme battling with Israeli forces in or around the southern town of Khiyam
&-- the deepest Israel&& s troops are reported to have actually penetrated into Lebanon since battling escalated five weeks ago.Hezbollah
also said it had targeted a military camp southeast of Tel Aviv in Israel with missiles.The White House said U.S
security authorities Brett McGurk would go to Israel on Thursday along with Hochstein
official had actually said they would be there to discuss a series of concerns && consisting of Gaza, Lebanon, captives, Iran and broader
The Lebanese prime minister did not comment on the draft proposal published by the Israeli network, which required an irreversible ceasefire
to take effect after the initial 60-day period based upon execution of United Nations resolutions 1701 and 1559
Mikati stated Lebanon was prepared to fully implement 1701, passed in 2006, which directed the demilitarisation of southern Lebanon and
peacekeeping mission there.Earlier this month, Hochstein informed press reporters in Beirut that much better systems for enforcement were
required as neither Israel nor Lebanon had actually totally executed the 18-year-old resolution
The draft leaked on Wednesday required producing an independent, global arrangement to supervise the ceasefire.Resolution 1559 was embraced
in 2004 and called for disbanding and deactivating all militias in Lebanon.The post Lebanon, Israel might accept ceasefire within days,
Lebanese prime minister says first appeared on Ariana News.
