Mikati: Lebanon Ready to Apply UN Resolution on Border if Israel Complies

Lebanon’s Prime Minister-Designate Najib Mikati speaks after meeting with President Michel Aoun, at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon August 16, 2021. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
Lebanon’s Prime Minister-Designate Najib Mikati speaks after meeting with President Michel Aoun, at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon August 16, 2021. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
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Mikati: Lebanon Ready to Apply UN Resolution on Border if Israel Complies

Lebanon’s Prime Minister-Designate Najib Mikati speaks after meeting with President Michel Aoun, at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon August 16, 2021. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
Lebanon’s Prime Minister-Designate Najib Mikati speaks after meeting with President Michel Aoun, at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon August 16, 2021. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS

Lebanon is ready to implement a UN resolution that would help end Hezbollah's cross-border attacks on Israel if Israel also complies and withdraws from disputed territory, Lebanon's prime minister said Friday.

The frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, raising fears of a broader conflagration.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, called for the removal of armed personnel south of Lebanon's Litani River, except for UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army and state security forces.

The solution to the current cross-border hostilities "is the implementation of international resolutions", including Resolution 1701, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement.

"We are totally ready to commit to their implementation, on condition the Israeli side does the same, and withdraws -- according to the international laws and resolutions -- from occupied territory," he added.

Mikati's office said the premier was referring territory claimed by Lebanon that remains occupied following Israel's withdrawal from the country's south in 2000: the disputed Shebaa Farms, the Kfarshuba hills and the Lebanese side of the village of Ghajar.

Despite holding sway over swathes of the country's south, Hezbollah has not had a visible military presence on Lebanon's southern border since the end of the 2006 war.

A diplomatic source, requesting anonymity, told AFP that the proposals to avert another all-out conflict include settling the disputed land border between Israel and Lebanon and encouraging Hezbollah withdraw its fighters from near the frontier.

On Monday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna met with senior officials in Beirut, a day after visiting Israel and the occupied West Bank, as part of efforts to de-escalate border tensions, while Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin urged Hezbollah to avoid provoking a "wider conflict".

Since hostilities began in October, more than 140 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also more than a dozen civilians, three of them journalists, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, four civilians and seven soldiers have been killed, according to officials.



Trump Cites Progress on Gaza Hostage Talks

Trump Cites Progress on Gaza Hostage Talks
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Trump Cites Progress on Gaza Hostage Talks

Trump Cites Progress on Gaza Hostage Talks

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said progress was being made regarding the return of the hostages being held in Gaza and that he was dealing with both Israel and Hamas, but he gave no other details about the talks.

Israel resumed its war against Hamas in Gaza last month after an eight-week ceasefire collapsed. The ceasefire brought a much-needed reprieve from the fighting to war-weary Palestinians in Gaza and sent an infusion of humanitarian aid to the territory. It also led to the release of 25 living Israeli hostages held in Gaza and the return of the remains of eight others, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Mediators have since attempted to bring the sides to a bridging agreement that would again pause the war, free hostages and open the door for talks on the war's end, something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he won't agree to until Hamas is defeated. Hamas wants the war to end before it frees the remaining 59 hostages it holds, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.
The war, which was sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel, has seen the deadliest fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in their history. It has ignited a humanitarian crisis in already impoverished Gaza, and has sent shockwaves across the region and beyond.