Hezbollah Leader Agreed to Ceasefire Days Before Assassination

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, revealed to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that just days before his assassination, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had consented to a 21-day ceasefire. This truce was advocated by U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, and other international allies during the recent UN General Assembly.

Habib confirmed Nasrallah’s agreement in the interview, noting that Lebanon, after consultations with Hezbollah and Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri, had aligned with the ceasefire. He added that both the U.S. and French governments were informed of this agreement, which was also supposedly affirmed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as per the joint statement by Presidents Biden and Macron.

The plan was for White House senior adviser Amos Hochstein to travel to Lebanon to negotiate the details of the ceasefire. However, Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs shortly thereafter.

This announcement came just a day after a joint statement by several countries, including the United States, France, and others, calling for a 21-day ceasefire to enable diplomatic efforts and prevent further escalations.

Sources close to the negotiations indicated that Hezbollah had agreed to the ceasefire shortly before the U.S. proposal was made public. It was suggested that such an agreement would have required Nasrallah’s approval, although it was not confirmed if the decision came directly from him.

Conversely, a Biden administration official expressed that they had no prior knowledge of Nasrallah’s personal agreement to the ceasefire. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller echoed this sentiment, stating that while diplomatic talks were ongoing about the ceasefire proposal, the U.S. had not been informed of Hezbollah’s consent.

Hezbollah did not make any public declaration about their stance on the ceasefire. It seemed they were awaiting Israel’s response to the international call for a ceasefire issued by the U.S., France, and other allies.

Despite the agreement, the ceasefire was short-lived. Netanyahu soon declared that Israel would persist in its aggressive actions against Hezbollah. This discrepancy was later described by Israeli officials as a misunderstanding, believing the ceasefire proposal was merely the beginning of a process towards peace.

Following these events, the U.S. refrained from further advocating for the ceasefire once it became apparent that Israel might target Nasrallah.

In light of queries regarding the diminishing influence of the United States in the region, Habib emphasized the critical role of the U.S. in achieving a ceasefire, though he remained uncertain about the extent of support Lebanon could expect.