US submits draft truce proposal to Lebanon

The US ambassador to Lebanon submitted a draft truce proposal to Lebanon's speaker of parliament Nabih Berri on Thursday to halt fighting between armed group Hezbollah and Israel, two political sources told Reuters, without revealing details.

The US has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end hostilities between its ally Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, but efforts have yet to yield a result. Israel launched a stepped-up air and ground campaign in late September after cross-border clashes in parallel with the Gaza war.

US ambassador Lisa Johnson met with Berri, a Hezbollah ally and the typical conduit for diplomacy with the group, on Thursday to submit Washington's first written proposal in at least several weeks, two senior Lebanese political sources said.

"It is a draft to get observations from the Lebanese side," one of the sources told Reuters. Neither source could provide details on the contents of the proposal.

There was no immediate comment from the US embassy in Beirut.

Truce initiatives so far have centered around better implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last round of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 and stipulates that southern Lebanon must be free of arms that do not belong to the Lebanese state.

Draft proposals leaked in recent weeks include details on a monitoring mechanism that could involve other countries.

An international conference in Paris on Thursday raised $1 billion in humanitarian and military in support for Lebanon. At the conference, Lebanon's Caretaker PM Najib Mikati said Lebabnon is seeking to recruit some 6,000 additional members to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).  He said the country could deploy 8,000 troops to the border with Israel to implement resolution 1701, which calls for the presence of only LAF and UNIFIL forces below the Litani River. 

Lebanon has endorsed 1701 as the way out of the current conflict. Israel, however, has demanded that it retain the right to carry out any targeting of Hezbollah if it violates the provisions of the truce or poses a threat to Israel.

Lebanese officials say that "direct enforcement" by Israel has not been formally floated to Lebanon, but that it would be rejected by Beirut.

"The idea that Israel can enforce at any time - that is unthinkable," one of the political sources said on Thursday.

Israeli operations in Lebanon have killed at least 3,365 people and injured 14,344 others since October 2023, Lebanon's national news agency said on Thursday.