Israeli attacks in the past twenty-four hours show that the seriousness Lebanon has demonstrated in engaging in negotiations within the “Mechanism” committee has not, at least so far, been met with a similar response from the Israeli side, as evidenced by the escalation of positions and military operations.
Amidst the heated political debate surrounding the “negotiating” step, diplomatic efforts return to the forefront with a visit from a UN Security Council delegation, which is inspecting the situation in Lebanon while drones hover over the capital and its suburbs. At the same time, areas south of the Litani River remain “under fire” from Israel, awaiting the maturation of conditions for indirect dialogue between Lebanon and Israel, or the success of any Arab or international initiative in breaking the deadlock of the crisis.
However, informed diplomatic sources confirmed to that the UN Security Council delegation’s visit aims to assess the situation on the ground in Lebanon, with the approaching end of UNIFIL’s mission in the south, and the beginning of the departure of groups of international forces from their positions since last month, with 640 members of the international force having left Lebanon to date.
In response to a question about the recent escalating Israeli message, diplomatic sources clarified that it is directed at the government first, and at the Security Council delegation second, and revolves around the fact that Israel draws a line between the negotiating track and directing strikes against “what threatens its security,” according to the American guarantees paper.
