As Lebanon ceasefire appears close, US envoy Hochstein set to arrive in Beirut on Tuesday

US special envoy for the Middle East Amos Hochstein will travel to Beirut Tuesday morning, Reuters reported, citing Lebanese sources. 

Reuters said that the Lebanese government is expected to give its response to the U.S. ceasefire proposal at that time. According to Lebanese media reports, government officials have taken a "positive view" toward the latest proposal but have not yet agreed to it.

However, there was no indication of whether Hezbollah is about to agree to the terms.

Hochstein will reportedly stop in Israel as well, where he is expected to gauge Israeli willingness to accept the U.S. proposal. With a string of successes, Israel is not likely to agree to any proposal that would endanger its war goal of returning the northern evacuees to their homes. 

Opposition member Benny Gantz wrote to 𝕏 Monday morning, saying, “A condition for any agreement with Lebanon - full Israeli freedom of action against any violation.” 

In a video posted to Telegram, he said that Israel has to have the same freedom of operation in southern Lebanon as it has in Area A of the Palestinian Territories in Judea and Samaria as part of a ceasefire deal.

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that Iran has indicated to the Hezbollah terror group that it supports ending the current conflict in Lebanon. 

The Times said that Iranian official, Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, met with Lebanese officials on Friday, where he also gave a message to Hezbollah saying that Khamenei supports ending the war with Israel. 

Larijani is said to have given assurances to Hezbollah of continued Iranian financial and military support, as well as aid in rebuilding forces and equipment after weeks of destruction at the hands of the IDF. 

Iran International, a news site affiliated with opposition elements, confirmed that Larijani met with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Hezbollah-aligned Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to discuss a ceasefire.

According to Lebanese news site ad-Diyar, the proposal seen by the Lebanese side does not indicate freedom of movement for the IDF in southern Lebanon.

A source, said to be familiar with the proposal, called Hochstein's visit "pivotal", saying the efforts would either bring a truce within days, "or the proposal currently placed on the table will fall, and we will be in the midst of a major escalation by Israel and Hezbollah that will continue at least until mid-January."

Israel has not let up the intensity of its strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure and personnel in the past few days, despite the U.S. efforts to broker an end to the conflict. 

Yesterday, Israel took out Hezbollah’s top spokesman, Muhammad Afif, in an unusual strike in central Beirut without advance warning. 

For several weeks now, IDF Arabic Spokesman Lt. Colonel Avichay Adraee has issued advance warnings of Israeli airstrikes, often a couple hours before the strikes, with specific buildings to be targeted indicated on maps. 

Sunday’s elimination of Afif involved no advance warning. It was also located in central Beirut, rather than the Hezbollah-dominated Dahiyeh suburb, where most of the IDF’s strikes in the area of the capital city have occurred. 

Over the weekend, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi conducted an assessment of the ground campaign inside Lebanon, in a show of Israel’s advances so far.