WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make another push for a ceasefire when he heads to the Middle East on Monday, the State Department said, seeking to kickstart negotiations to end the Gaza war and also defuse the spillover conflict in Lebanon.
The top U.S. diplomat's latest trip to the region, his eleventh since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas that triggered the Gaza war, comes even as Israel has intensified its military campaign in Gaza and in Lebanon against the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia.
The U.S. is trying to resolve complex interlocked conflicts after Israel raised the stakes by assassinating the leaders of Hezbollah, including its veteran secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza while showing no sign of reining in its ground and aerial offensives.
Killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week after a year-long search was a major victory for Israel. But its leaders say the war must go on until the Islamist group is eliminated as a military and security threat to Israel.
Iran and its allies have said Sinwar's death in a gunbattle with Israeli soldiers in Gaza will not weaken their resolve.
Israel's assassination of Hamas leaders in the past dealt heavy setbacks to the group but did not bring it to its knees.
Blinken will discuss with regional leaders the importance of ending the war in Gaza, ways to chart a post-conflict plan for the Palestinian enclave, as well as how to reach a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the State Department said in a statement.
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein held talks with Lebanese officials in Beirut on Monday on conditions for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah after Israel struck branches across Lebanon of a financial institution linked to the group.
He said that it was "not enough" for both sides to commit to U.N. resolution 1701, which ended the last round of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in 2006 and which calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.
Hochstein said that neither Hezbollah nor Israel have adequately implemented the resolution, and that while it would be the basis for the end to current hostilities, the U.S. is seeking to determine "what are the things that would have to be done in addition to make sure it is implemented fairly, accurately and transparently."
"We are working with government of Lebanon, the state of Lebanon, as well as the government of Israel to get to a formula that brings an end to this conflict once and for all," he said.
Israel launched a ground campaign over the past month after a year of border clashes touched off by Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza.
'NEW UNDERSTANDINGS'
Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said there was no alternative to U.N. resolution 1701, but "new understandings" could be reached to implement it, a statement issued by his office said on Monday.
Overnight, Israel bombed sites in the capital Beirut, south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley in the east, targeting branches of a banking system that Israel says is run by Hezbollah to finance its operations. Hundreds of families fled homes near the targeted locations ahead of the strikes, though no casualties were immediately reported.
"Strike, strike, strike with planes and drones, and we don’t know who they are targeting and who will die each day," said Micheline Jabbour, who works in a Beirut pastry shop.
The Israeli military said before its overnight attacks that it was targeting the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, a financial institution which the U.S. has said is used by Hezbollah to manage its finances.
The association has over 30 outlets across Lebanon including 15 in densely populated central Beirut and in its suburbs.
There was no immediate statement from the organisation, Hezbollah or the Lebanese government.
The ground outside Al-Qard Al Hassan branch in the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, which was struck in the early hours of Monday, was strewn with rubble, shattered glass and scattered papers.
Amid the debris was a large yellow poster leaning against the building featuring Nasrallah with a message: “You promised us victory, and we will win.”
Hochstein, the U.S. special envoy, said he had held "constructive" talks with parliament speaker Nabih Berri who has been leading diplomatic efforts in Lebanon to reach a ceasefire.
Beirut residents were doubtful that Hochstein would succeed.
"I see it dragging on, I see it taking longer. It’s still a play; where are we going? No one knows. Anyone who tells you they know is lying, especially these so-called leaders that appear on TV - they don’t know what they’re saying," said Tony Rawandos, 61, owner of a car workshop.
Over the past year, Lebanese officials estimate that more than 2,400 people have been killed in the conflict. Fifty-nine people have been killed in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights over the same period, say Israeli authorities.
Israel's military is also preparing to retaliate for an Iranian missile barrage on Oct. 1, though Washington has pressed it not to strike Iranian energy facilities or nuclear sites.
ISRAELI CONDITIONS
Israel's campaign in Lebanon has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. It says its aim is to drive Hezbollah fighters from the border region so tens of thousands of Israelis can return to homes they were forced to flee over the past year due to Hezbollah cross-border fire in solidarity with Palestinians.
Israel has given the United States a document with its conditions for a diplomatic solution to end the war in Lebanon, Axios reported on Sunday, citing two U.S. officials and two Israeli officials.
Israel demands that its forces be allowed to engage in "active enforcement" to ensure Hezbollah does not rearm near the border, and wants its air force to have freedom of operation in Lebanese air space, Axios reported, citing an Israeli official.
A U.S. official told Axios it was highly unlikely that Lebanon and the international community would agree to Israel's conditions.
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