By John Irish, Maya Gebeily and Ari Rabinovitch
UNITED NATIONS/BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – France said on Wednesday that efforts would continue in coming hours to clinch a deal on a proposal for a 21-day ceasefire in the Lebanon conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
“We have made important progress in the last few hours and we will continue our efforts in the coming hours,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters outside a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
Barrot, who was due to travel to Lebanon later this week, earlier told the 15-member council: “We are counting on both parties to accept it without delay, in order to protect civilian populations and allow for diplomatic negotiations to begin.”
Israel widened its airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday and at least 72 people were killed, according to a Reuters compilation of Lebanese health ministry statements. The ministry earlier said at least 223 were wounded.
Israel’s military chief said a ground assault was possible, raising fears the conflict could spark a wider Middle East war.
The U.S. was working with other countries to avert an escalation of hostilities, enable displaced people in Lebanon and Israel to return home and allow for discussions on a broader diplomatic solution, Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood told the council.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters before the meeting that Israel would welcome a ceasefire and preferred a diplomatic solution. He then told the Security Council that Iran was the nexus of violence in the region and peace required dismantling the threat.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters before the council meeting that his country supported Hezbollah and would not remain indifferent if the conflict in Lebanon spiraled.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the Security Council to put pressure on Israel for “an immediate ceasefire on all fronts.” Asked if a ceasefire can be reached soon, he told Reuters: “Hopefully, yes.”
World leaders voiced concern the conflict – running in parallel to Israel’s war in Gaza against Palestinian Hamas militants also backed by Iran – was escalating rapidly as the death toll rose in Lebanon and thousands fled their homes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to arrive in New York on Thursday and address the U.N. General Assembly on Friday.
LEBANON CONFLICT PUTS PRESSURE ON BIDEN, HARRIS
The U.S. administration has for nearly a year sought unsuccessfully to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.
The conflict has been costly politically for U.S. President Joe Biden and by extension Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign with the violence in Lebanon increasing pressure on his administration to find a diplomatic solution.
Earlier on Wednesday Israel shot down a missile that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement said it had aimed at the headquarters of the Mossad intelligence agency near Israel’s biggest city, Tel Aviv.
Israeli officials said a heavy missile had headed towards civilian areas in Tel Aviv, not the Mossad HQ, before being shot down.
“You hear the jets overhead; we have been striking all day,” General Herzi Halevi told Israeli troops on the border with Lebanon, according to a military statement.
“This is both to prepare the ground for your possible entry and to continue degrading Hezbollah.” A Pentagon spokesperson said an Israeli ground incursion did not appear imminent.
As many as half a million people may have been displaced in Lebanon, its foreign minister said. In Beirut, thousands of people displaced from southern Lebanon were sheltering in schools and other buildings.
ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES TARGET HEZBOLLAH LEADERS
Israeli airstrikes this week have targeted Hezbollah leaders and hit hundreds of sites deep inside Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands have fled the border region, while the group has fired barrages of rockets into Israel.
Mourners thronged a funeral on Wednesday in Beirut’s suburbs for two senior Hezbollah commanders killed in Israeli strikes the day before. Fighters in fatigues carried the flag-covered coffins as a band played. The crowd chanted Hezbollah slogans and some wept.
Israel said its warplanes were hitting south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold further north, and that it was calling up two more reserve brigades for operations on Israel’s northern border.
In a video message that made no comment on diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire, Netanyahu said Hezbollah was being hit harder than it could ever have imagined.
Israel has made a priority of securing its northern border and allowing the return there of some 70,000 residents displaced by near-daily exchanges of fire since war broke out in October between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on Israel’s southern border.
Lebanese hospitals have filled with the wounded since Monday, when Israeli bombing killed more than 550 people in Lebanon’s deadliest day since its civil war ended in 1990.
