Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire deal within reach: report

Israel and Lebanon are set to agree to a cease-fire deal to end the intense fighting between the Jewish state and Hezbollah terrorist group, a new report says.

Israel’s security cabinet is expected to vote on the US-backed cease-fire proposal Tuesday calling for 60 days of peace to allow the Israel Defense Force and the terror group based in Lebanon to withdraw from Lebanon’s southern border, a senior American official told Axios on Monday.

The deal also would create a five-nation monitoring committee, led by the US, to act as referee to oversee the border and allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries to return home after a year of fighting.

The pact on the table includes assurances for Israel to maintain a military presence near the border as the international oversight committee works to keep a buffer zone clear of combatants, a condition to the area’s 2006 peace deal that Hezbollah violated despite UN peacekeeping forces in the area.

The Lebanese army would also agree to help with clearing the area of terrorists and overseeing Hezbollah’s move north of the Litani River, hindering its capabilities to conduct daily attacks on Israel.

The Lebanese military would be tasked with reining in Hezbollah should it ever threaten Israel again, too — with the Jewish state free to retaliate if Lebanon fails.

The implementation of the cease-fire deal comes a year after Hezbollah began attacking Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian terror group Hamas after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in Israel sparked the Gaza war.

The Jewish state has since devastated the leadership and infrastructure of Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terror group, with heavy bombardments and ground raids in southern Lebanon.

The fighting has left more than 3,500 dead in Lebanon, according to the country’s ministry of health, which does not differentiate between terrorists and civilians.

Hezbollah officials announced last week that they approved of the US-backed peace deal and were waiting for Israel to respond.

Jerusalem was allegedly close to securing the deal last week, but the negotiations were stalled when the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief, Yoav Gallant, officials told Axios.

Netanyahu was allegedly outraged at France, a key mediator in the deal with Lebanon, after its Foreign Ministry said it had a legal obligation to comply with the ICC’s ruling.

US officials familiar with the deal said President Biden had to step in to ease tensions between France and Israel, with Paris then issuing a statement Friday to try and cool them.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said Monday that the cease-fire talks between Lebanon and Israel were moving forward, with Lebanon’s deputy parliamentary speaker, Elias Bou Saab, commenting that there were currently “no serious obstacles” to reaching a truce.

With Post wires