Lebanon and Israel have taken a step forward towards holding a first meeting to negotiate an end to the war on Lebanon.
An agreement has yet to be reached on the necessary arrangements, even as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said from Beirut on Saturday that the “diplomatic avenues” were available to end the war.
Ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that an agreement has been reached to hold a meeting between Lebanon and Israel, but the location and date have not been set.
France and Cyprus have both offered to host the talks.
The sources revealed that parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has not yet decided whether to send a Shiite representative to the meeting or not.
The negotiations team does not yet have a Shiite representative.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Berri tied his agreement to negotiations and President Joseph Aoun’s initiative to end the war with two conditions: the ceasefire and the return of the displaced.
He refused to go into further details “ahead of time”.
Berri refuses to take part in direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel and has demanded a ceasefire be implemented before taking any other step to resolve the conflict.
Sources have quoted him as saying that he is still committed to the Mechanism committee and UN Security Council resolution 1701 to end the war.
‘Only diplomacy’
Guterres urged on Saturday the international community to support Lebanon.
Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, and the Tehran-backed group's leader has said the fighters were ready for a long confrontation with Israel.
On Saturday, Israel kept up strikes on Lebanon as Hezbollah claimed attacks against northern Israel and Beirut said the death toll in the country since March 2 had climbed to 826, including 106 children.
US news site Axios reported on Saturday that Israel was planning a major ground invasion of Lebanon "aiming to seize the entire area south of the Litani River", citing US and Israeli officials.
The area, covering hundreds of square miles, is already subject to Israeli evacuation warnings.
Israel has already sent some ground forces into Lebanon and late on Saturday Hezbollah said it was engaged in ongoing "direct clashes" with Israeli forces in Khiam.
Guterres, however, insisted "there is no military solution, only diplomacy" and dialogue.
The UN chief arrived in Beirut on Friday for what he called a solidarity visit and launched a $325 million humanitarian appeal to support Lebanon as it responds to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people amid sweeping Israeli army evacuation orders.
Guterres urged the international community to "step up your engagement, empower the Lebanese state" and support the army, which has committed to disarming Hezbollah.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday that Ankara feared Israel could commit "genocide" in Lebanon and called for the international community to intervene.
Turkey has been fiercely critical of Israel since the start of the Gaza war.
Paramedics
The health ministry said 31 paramedics had been killed this month, after the bodies of additional health workers were found following an overnight strike that authorities said hit a healthcare center in Burj Qalawiya in the country's south, killing doctors, paramedics and nurses.
The Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee said the center was one of its facilities, pledging such attacks would not deter it from "performing our humanitarian duty".
The Israeli military accused Hezbollah of using ambulances militarily, and its spokesman Avichay Adraee warned that Israel would act "in accordance with international law against any military activity" by any Hezbollah use of medical facilities or ambulances.
Lebanon's health ministry accused Israel of repeatedly "targeting ambulance crews while they were performing rescue duties".
The Israeli army said that it had struck Hezbollah operatives on Friday "who were bringing rockets into a weapons depot" in Majedel, near Burj Qalawiya.
It also said it had struck "approximately 110 Hezbollah command centers" since the regional conflict broke out.
On Saturday, a strike hit an apartment building in a northern Beirut suburb that had been targeted a day earlier.
An AFP correspondent in the Nabaa-Burj Hammoud area saw rescue workers at the scene and damage including a hole in a building, outside Hezbollah's strongholds in the capital's southern suburbs.
The health ministry said the strike killed one person in Burj Hammoud, a densely populated, mixed area known for its large Armenian-Lebanese community.
'No safety'
Levon Ghazalian, 42, who lives in the building next door, said "it's the first time this happens" in the area, which was spared in the previous conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2024.
"All the neighbors are afraid," he told AFP.
Hanadi Hachem, 50, who was in her pyjamas, said "there's no safety anymore... you never know where a strike will come from".
She said she and some family members were sleeping in their car out of fear.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the Lebanese government was ready to engage in "direct talks" with Israel and offered to host negotiations in Paris, warning that "everything must be done to prevent Lebanon from descending into chaos".
The French foreign ministry later denied there was a French plan to end the war, saying it had only offered to facilitate talks, after Axios reported that Paris had drawn up a proposal involving Lebanon formally recognizing Israel.
