US envoy Amos Hochstein said on Tuesday that he had held "very constructive talks" with the speaker of Lebanon's parliament in Beirut and that there was a "real opportunity" to bring the conflict between the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah and Israel to an end.
"This is a moment of decision-making. I am here in Beirut to facilitate that decision but it's ultimately the decision of the parties to reach a conclusion to this conflict. It is now within our grasp," he told reporters after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri.
Minutes after his remarks, Hezbollah media announced that the party’s leader Naim Qassem will give a speech on Tuesday.
Hochstein landed in Beirut on Tuesday hours after a proposal drafted by Washington won a nod from Hezbollah.
The visit indicates progress in US-led diplomacy aimed at ending a conflict which spiraled into all-out war in late September, when Israel launched a major offensive against Hezbollah.
Both the Lebanese government and Hezbollah have agreed to the US ceasefire proposal that was submitted in writing last week and made some comments on the content, Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Berri, told Reuters on Monday.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Hezbollah endorsed its long-time ally Berri to negotiate over a ceasefire, but both it and Israel have escalated the fight as the political efforts carried on.
A diplomat familiar with the talks cautioned that details still needed to be ironed out and these could still hold up a final agreement.
Khalil said Israel was trying to negotiate "under fire", a reference to an escalation of its bombardment of Beirut and the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. "This won't affect our position," he said.
He declined to detail the notes that Lebanon made on the draft but said they were presented "in a positive atmosphere" and in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
Its terms require Hezbollah to have no armed presence in the area between the Lebanese-Israeli border and the Litani River, which runs some 30 km (20 miles) north of the frontier.
