Lebanese FM: Hezbollah Leader Agreed to Temporary Ceasefire Days Before Assassination
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, informed CNN that Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, had consented to a 21-day ceasefire just days prior to his assassination by Israeli forces. This temporary truce was advocated by US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, and other allies during the previous week’s UN General Assembly meeting.
“He [Nasrallah] accepted, he accepted,” Habib stated during an interview with Christiane Amanpour that aired on Wednesday. “We reached a complete agreement. Lebanon was on board for a ceasefire after consulting with Hezbollah. The Speaker of the Lebanese House, Mr. Nabih Berri, engaged with Hezbollah, and we communicated the outcomes to the Americans and the French. They informed that Mr. Netanyahu also concurred with the joint statement issued by both presidents [Biden and Macron].”
Habib added that White House senior adviser Amos Hochstein was scheduled to travel to Lebanon to facilitate the ceasefire negotiations. “They indicated that Mr. Netanyahu was onboard with this, and we also secured Hezbollah’s agreement, and then you know what transpired afterward,” Habib remarked.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital. The day before, a collective statement from the US, France, Canada, the European Union, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK, and Qatar called for a 21-day ceasefire with the aim of allowing diplomatic efforts to succeed and preventing further escalations along the border.
When asked about the declining influence of the United States in the region, Habib emphasized that Washington remains important in this regard: “I don’t believe we have an alternative. We require assistance from the United States. Whether we will receive it is uncertain, but the United States is crucial and essential for the ceasefire to materialize,” Habib concluded.