Senior US envoy visits Beirut amid tensions on Lebanon's borders, wider Middle East

Описание: (11 Jan 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beirut - 11 January 2024
1. Senior US Envoy Amos Hochstein arriving to meet with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at Grand Serail
2. Various of meeting between Berri and Hochstein
3. Wide of news conference hall
4. Video cameras
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Amos Hochstein, Senior US Envoy:
"I think you've all heard what the government in Israel has said, which is that there is a narrow window but that they prefer a diplomatic solution. I think that is the case. We have, we are living in a crisis moment where we would like to see a diplomatic solution. And I believe that both sides are, prefer a diplomatic solution and it is our job to get one. Thank you."
6. Exterior of Grand Serail government palace
7. Various of meeting between Hochstein and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati
8. Tracking of Hochstein leaving government palace
9. Various of Grand Serail government palace
STORYLINE:
A senior United States envoy arrived Thursday in Beirut amid an international scramble to contain the regional fallout of the ongoing war in Gaza and prevent an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah on the Lebanese front.

Amos Hochstein, a senior advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, mediated a landmark deal demarcating Lebanon and Israel’s maritime border inked in 2022.

Before the outbreak of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, he said he hoped to broker a similar deal on the land border — a trickier and more politically fraught topic.

Hochstein met with Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and powerful Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at the Grand Serail on Thursday.

He told a news conference that both sides would "prefer a diplomatic solution".

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces have engaged in near-daily clashes for the past three months.

The fighting escalated in recent weeks, particularly since suspected Israeli strikes killed a top Hamas leader and a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon this month.

Israeli officials have threatened a wider war in Lebanon if Hezbollah does not withdraw its forces north of the Litani river as stipulated in a 2006 cease-fire agreement.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a recent speech signalled openness to Lebanon reaching an agreement on the land border but said it can only happen after the Israel-Hamas war ends.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has said that no deal on land border demarcation nor on Hezbollah’s presence in the border area would be signed before the war ends, but that discussions could start while the conflict is ongoing.

AP video shot by Fadi al Tawil and Lujain Jo

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