The Fort Worth Press - New Hezbollah chief says open to truce with Israel if offer is made

USD -
AED 3.672966
AFN 66.999904
ALL 90.824998
AMD 387.049817
ANG 1.803791
AOA 911.999695
ARS 988.681801
AUD 1.52025
AWG 1.8025
AZN 1.698368
BAM 1.808414
BBD 2.020767
BDT 119.602404
BGN 1.80082
BHD 0.377061
BIF 2907.5
BMD 1
BND 1.324802
BOB 6.916128
BRL 5.7629
BSD 1.000814
BTN 84.156519
BWP 13.380119
BYN 3.275298
BYR 19600
BZD 2.017365
CAD 1.39045
CDF 2907.999931
CHF 0.866475
CLF 0.034858
CLP 961.840007
CNY 7.115201
CNH 7.119295
COP 4414.03
CRC 512.796804
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 101.87498
CZK 23.369296
DJF 177.719835
DKK 6.870699
DOP 60.449945
DZD 133.408567
EGP 48.735209
ERN 15
ETB 120.79854
EUR 0.92085
FJD 2.278002
FKP 0.765169
GBP 0.771315
GEL 2.745003
GGP 0.765169
GHS 16.297745
GIP 0.765169
GMD 69.502368
GNF 8630.999877
GTQ 7.735552
GYD 209.39436
HKD 7.77225
HNL 25.07503
HRK 6.88903
HTG 131.713992
HUF 375.14981
IDR 15680.9
ILS 3.70183
IMP 0.765169
INR 84.198902
IQD 1310
IRR 42092.504736
ISK 136.759855
JEP 0.765169
JMD 158.446602
JOD 0.709301
JPY 153.405991
KES 128.999783
KGS 85.806174
KHR 4065.000025
KMF 453.598534
KPW 899.999774
KRW 1379.535009
KWD 0.30657
KYD 0.834004
KZT 489.080183
LAK 21930.000096
LBP 89599.999641
LKR 293.238158
LRD 191.999948
LSL 17.659741
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.824978
MAD 9.84697
MDL 17.959742
MGA 4619.999927
MKD 56.688162
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3398.000028
MOP 8.011521
MRU 40.000095
MUR 46.110418
MVR 15.349861
MWK 1736.000178
MXN 20.158598
MYR 4.378799
MZN 63.897133
NAD 17.659758
NGN 1646.63001
NIO 36.815017
NOK 10.95703
NPR 134.652156
NZD 1.673641
OMR 0.385122
PAB 1.000804
PEN 3.772498
PGK 3.981024
PHP 58.265005
PKR 277.874979
PLN 4.011235
PYG 7919.40972
QAR 3.641022
RON 4.581697
RSD 107.793002
RUB 97.018465
RWF 1360
SAR 3.755638
SBD 8.316332
SCR 14.245536
SDG 601.499746
SEK 10.676976
SGD 1.321976
SHP 0.765169
SLE 22.650257
SLL 20969.496802
SOS 571.000316
SRD 34.367024
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.757444
SYP 2512.530268
SZL 17.660378
THB 33.719941
TJS 10.648606
TMT 3.51
TND 3.095497
TOP 2.342102
TRY 34.277303
TTD 6.791179
TWD 31.955989
TZS 2720.00005
UAH 41.298
UGX 3667.985798
UYU 41.035978
UZS 12807.503112
VEF 3622552.534434
VES 42.508876
VND 25295
VUV 118.722039
WST 2.801184
XAF 606.530805
XAG 0.029645
XAU 0.000367
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.752275
XOF 605.497935
XPF 110.324992
YER 250.324997
ZAR 17.65771
ZMK 9001.198309
ZMW 26.647435
ZWL 321.999592
  • RIO

    -0.6800

    65.9

    -1.03%

  • CMSC

    0.0200

    24.59

    +0.08%

  • SCS

    0.0200

    12.23

    +0.16%

  • CMSD

    -0.0100

    24.83

    -0.04%

  • JRI

    0.0700

    13.05

    +0.54%

  • BTI

    -0.1000

    34.36

    -0.29%

  • BCC

    2.7300

    134.37

    +2.03%

  • BCE

    -0.2200

    32.24

    -0.68%

  • RBGPF

    -2.0000

    61

    -3.28%

  • NGG

    -0.0500

    65.07

    -0.08%

  • RYCEF

    0.0400

    7.25

    +0.55%

  • RELX

    -1.0000

    46.91

    -2.13%

  • GSK

    -1.1600

    37.01

    -3.13%

  • VOD

    0.1100

    9.39

    +1.17%

  • AZN

    -2.3900

    72.83

    -3.28%

  • BP

    -0.3400

    29.02

    -1.17%

New Hezbollah chief says open to truce with Israel if offer is made
New Hezbollah chief says open to truce with Israel if offer is made / Photo: © AFP

New Hezbollah chief says open to truce with Israel if offer is made

Hezbollah's new leader on Wednesday said the beleaguered Lebanese movement could agree to a ceasefire under certain terms, as Israeli forces expand their bombardment of the group's bastions.

Text size:

Naim Qassem's statement came as Israel's security cabinet met to discuss a possible truce, but also as Israel attacked the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek and said it had killed another senior Hezbollah commander.

Lebanon's premier Najib Mikati said he was "cautiously optimistic" about a ceasefire in "the coming hours or days".

Speaking to broadcaster Al-Jadeed, Mikati said US envoy Amos Hochstein had suggested "that perhaps we could reach a ceasefire in the coming days, before the fifth" of November, when the US election takes place.

Qassem became leader of the Iran-backed armed movement on Tuesday, following the assassination of his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah by Israel in a massive air strike last month.

In his first speech since taking over, he said Hezbollah could continue to resist Israeli air and ground attacks in Lebanon for months.

But he also opened the door to a negotiated truce, if presented with an Israeli offer.

"If the Israelis decide that they want to stop the aggression, we say we accept, but under the conditions that we see as appropriate and suitable," he said.

Qassem however added that Hezbollah had not yet received a credible proposition.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said the country's security cabinet was meeting to discuss what terms it might offer to secure a truce.

"There are discussions, I think it will still take time," Cohen, a former intelligence minister, told Israeli public radio.

According to Israel's Channel 12, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met ministers late Tuesday to discuss Israel's demands in return for a 60-day truce.

These include that Hezbollah withdraw north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli frontier, and that the Lebanese state's army deploy along the border.

- 'Act forcefully ' -

An international intervention mechanism would be established to enforce the truce, but Israel would demand a guarantee that it maintain freedom of action in case of threats.

The US State Department said President Joe Biden's Middle East adviser Brett McGurk and Hochstein were headed to Israel Wednesday to seek progress on deals to end both the Gaza and Lebanon wars.

They "are travelling to Israel to engage on issues including a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon, as well as how we get to an end to the conflict in Gaza," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

On the ground, explosions rocked Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek shortly after Israel's military warned residents it would "act forcefully against Hezbollah interests within your city and villages".

Lebanon's health ministry said at least 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes on two areas in the Baalbek region.

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah "command and control centres and terrorist infrastructure" in areas of Baalbek and Nabatiyeh.

Separately, Lebanon's health ministry said 11 people were killed and 15 wounded in Israeli strikes on the town of Sohmor in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it had fired rockets and drones at three military positions in northern Israel, including near Haifa and Acre.

It later said it fired rockets at a military training camp southeast of Tel Aviv.

The war in Lebanon began late last month, nearly a year after Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border fire into Israel in support of Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

The war has killed at least 1,754 people in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, although the real number is likely to be higher.

Israel's military says it has lost 37 soldiers in Lebanon since ground operations began on September 30.

- Short term truce? -

In Gaza, there were more deadly strikes Wednesday as international mediators prepared to propose a short-term truce to free hostages and avert a humanitarian catastrophe.

News of a potential breakthrough in truce talks came a day after an Israeli strike on a single Gaza residential block killed nearly 100 people and triggered international revulsion.

US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have been trying to negotiate a truce for months.

Israel's Mossad spy chief David Barnea, CIA director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani held their latest round of secretive talks on Sunday and Monday in Doha.

On Wednesday, a source close to the talks told AFP on condition of anonymity that the senior officials discussed proposing a "short-term" truce of "less than a month".

The proposal would include the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and an increase in aid to Gaza.

"US officials believe that if a short-term deal can be reached, it could lead to a more permanent agreement," the source said.

A Hamas official said the group would discuss any ideas for a Gaza ceasefire that included an Israeli withdrawal, but had not officially received any comprehensive proposals.

However, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops to continue exerting pressure "in order to create the conditions necessary to ensure the return of the hostages".

Tuesday's strike in the northern Gaza district of Beit Lahia collapsed a building and left at least 93 dead, including many children, according to the territory's civil defence agency.

UN chief Antonio Guterres was "deeply shocked" by the strike, his spokesman said.

US State Department spokesman Miller meanwhile said Israel was "not doing enough to get us the answers that we have requested" over the strike.

Israel's response has led to the deaths of 43,163 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, figures which the United Nations consider reliable.

burs-dc/srm/jsa

C.M.Harper--TFWP