By John Irish, Maya Gebeily and Ari Rabinovitch
UNITED NATIONS/BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – France said on Wednesday that efforts would continue in the next few hours to reach an agreement on a proposed 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon’s conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
“We have made important progress in the last few hours and we will continue our efforts in the coming hours,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters outside the UN Security Council meeting.
Barrot, who will travel to Lebanon later this week, previously told the 15-member council: “We count on both sides to accept without delay, to protect the civilian population and allow for diplomatic negotiations to begin.”
US President Joe Biden and France’s Emmanuel Macron said it was time for a settlement on the Israel-Lebanon border that guarantees safety and security so civilians can return home.
“The statement that has been negotiated has now been approved by the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar,” he said in a joint statement. “We ask for a broad endorsement and for direct support from the governments of Israel and Lebanon.”
Israel stepped up airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday and at least 72 people were killed, according to a Reuters compilation of Lebanese health ministry statements. The ministry earlier said at least 223 were injured.
Israel’s military chief said a ground attack was possible, raising fears the conflict could lead to a wider Middle East war.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told reporters before the meeting that Israel would accept a ceasefire and opt for a diplomatic solution. He then told the Security Council that Iran is a nexus of violence in the region and that peace requires dismantling the threat.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters before the council meeting that his country supports Hezbollah and will not remain indifferent if the conflict in Lebanon continues.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked the Security Council to put pressure on Israel for an “immediate ceasefire on all fronts.” Asked if a ceasefire could be reached soon, he told Reuters: “I hope so.”
World leaders expressed concern the conflict – running parallel to Israel’s war in Gaza against the Palestinian Hamas militants also backed by Iran – is escalating rapidly as the death toll rises in Lebanon and thousands flee their homes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will arrive in New York on Thursday and address the UN General Assembly on Friday.
Lebanon conflict puts pressure on BIDEN, HARRIS
The US administration has been trying unsuccessfully for almost a year to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.
The conflict has been politically costly for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s violent presidential campaign in Lebanon has increased pressure on his administration to find a diplomatic solution.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israel fired a missile that the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said was targeting the headquarters of the Mossad intelligence agency near Israel’s largest city, Tel Aviv.
Israeli officials said a heavy missile was headed for a civilian area in Tel Aviv, not the Mossad headquarters, before it was shot down.
“You hear the jets above; we have been attacking all day,” General Herzi Halevi told Israeli troops on the border with Lebanon, according to a military statement.
“These two are to prepare the ground for you to come in and continue to humiliate Hezbollah.” A Pentagon spokesman said an Israeli ground attack did not appear imminent.
As many as half a million people may have been displaced in Lebanon, the foreign minister said. In Beirut, thousands of displaced people from southern Lebanon took refuge in schools and other buildings.
ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES TARGET HEZBOLLAH LEADERS
Israeli airstrikes this week have targeted Hezbollah leaders and hit hundreds of sites inside Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands have fled the border region, while the group fired rockets into Israel.
Mourners held a funeral Wednesday in a Beirut suburb for two senior Hezbollah commanders killed in an Israeli attack the previous day. Weary fighters carried flag-draped caskets as a band played. The crowd chanted Hezbollah slogans and some cried.
Israel said its warplanes struck southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, Hezbollah’s stronghold in the north, and called up two reserve brigades for operations on Israel’s northern border.
In a video message that did not comment on diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire, Netanyahu said Hezbollah was under attack harder than anyone could have imagined.
Israel has made it a priority to secure its northern border and allow the return of about 70,000 residents displaced by the almost daily exchange since fighting broke out in October between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on Israel’s southern border.
Lebanese hospitals have been overflowing with wounded since Monday, when Israeli bombs killed more than 550 people in Lebanon’s deadliest day since the civil war ended in 1990.
