Hochstein to Visit Beirut Seeking to Ease Israel-Lebanon Tensions

US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein meets with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut, Lebanon June 14, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein meets with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut, Lebanon June 14, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Hochstein to Visit Beirut Seeking to Ease Israel-Lebanon Tensions

US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein meets with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut, Lebanon June 14, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein meets with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut, Lebanon June 14, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Senior White House advisor Amos Hochstein is expected to arrive early next week in Beirut for talks with Lebanese officials as part of efforts to appease the situation along the Israel-Lebanon border.
On Sunday, unnamed informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hochstein’s talks with Lebanese officials will “carry new developments” regarding his shuttle discussions between Tel Aviv and Beirut in parallel with the efforts aiming for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Hochstein had visited Beirut in January in a bid to explore the possibility of talks on drawing the land border between Lebanon and Israel, after having mediated a 2022 deal setting the maritime borders between the two countries.
After meeting several officials then, he said that “we are living a moment of crisis”, and that there is a great need to find a diplomatic solution.
He stressed the need for reaching a diplomatic solution that allows Lebanese people to return to their homes in the south, and the Israelis to return to their homes in the north.
Hochstein’s talks with officials in Lebanon focused on the need for a ceasefire and the implementation of UN resolution 1701, in addition to Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the area between the border and the Litani River.



UN Security Council Says Peacekeeping Force Should Remain on the Israel-Syria Border

Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
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UN Security Council Says Peacekeeping Force Should Remain on the Israel-Syria Border

Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
Israeli army humvees move in the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution extending the UN peacekeeping force on the Israel-Syria border and underscoring that there should be no military activities in the demilitarized buffer zone.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli troops will occupy the buffer zone for the foreseeable future. Israel captured the buffer zone shortly after the collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, The Associated Press said.
The resolution adopted Friday stressed that both countries are obligated “to scrupulously and fully respect” the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement that ended the 1973 war between Syria and Israel and established the buffer zone. The resolution was co-sponsored by the United States and Russia.
The Security Council extended the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force monitoring the border area, known as UNDOF, until June 30, 2025 and called for a halt to all military actions throughout the country including in UNDOF’s area of operations.
The resolution expresses concern that ongoing military activities in the area of separation have the potential to escalate Israeli-Syrian tensions and jeopardize the 1974 ceasefire. It also expresses alarm that violence in Syria “risks a serious conflagration of the conflict in the region.”