Australia joins US in plea for immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined world leaders calling for an immediate 21-day ceasefire in Israel’s conflict against militant group Hezbollah, a move they say could open space for a diplomatic settlement that would allow Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return safely to their homes.

US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron led the push for a ceasefire on Thursday and were quickly joined by Albanese and the leaders of Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Locals in Sa’ar, Israel, pick through the rubble of a house hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon.Credit: Getty Images

The call came as Israel hit another 75 targets in Lebanon’s south and Bekaa Valley, killing at least 23 Syrians in a three-storey building in Younine, most of them women and children, the town Mayor Ali Qusas, told Reuters. Lebanon is home to around 1.5 million Syrians who fled civil war there.

Israel’s military said it targeted weapons storage facilities and ready-to-fire launchers.

Israeli air strikes have killed more than 600 people in Lebanon this week following last week’s dramatic pager and walkie-talkie attacks targeting Hezbollah operatives.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets over Israel’s northern border for almost a year in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, forcing almost 70,000 Israelis to flee their homes.

“The situation between Lebanon and Israel since October 8th, 2023, is intolerable and presents an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation,” Albanese and the fellow leaders said in a statement.

“This is in nobody’s interest, neither of the people of Israel nor of the people of Lebanon.

“It is time to conclude a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes in safety.”

Diplomacy would not be able to succeed while the conflict was escalating, the leaders warned.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his delegation watch Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon arrive during a meeting of the UN Security Council.Credit: AP

“Thus we call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement consistent with UNSCR 1701, and the implementation of UNSCR 2735 regarding a ceasefire in Gaza,” the leaders said.

“We are then prepared to fully support all diplomatic efforts to conclude an agreement between Lebanon and Israel within this period, building on efforts over the last months, that ends this crisis altogether.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has expressed hope that a ceasefire can be reached soon.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed in 2006, requires Hezbollah to disarm and withdraw north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon.

“There cannot be, must not be war in Lebanon,” President Macron said in a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.

The ceasefire push came after Israel’s military chief told troops they were preparing the way for a possible ground operation by Israeli forces against Hezbollah.

“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.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told the UN Security Council during a meeting that “we are counting on both parties to accept [the ceasefire proposal] without delay”.

Barrot said the US and France, which once included Lebanon in its empire, had consulted the sides on “final parameters for a diplomatic way out of this crisis,” adding that “war is not unavoidable”.

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, told reporters in New York that Israel would welcome a ceasefire and preferred a diplomatic solution in Lebanon. But if diplomacy failed, Israel would use all means at its disposal, he said.

Also at the UN, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country supported Hezbollah and would not remain indifferent to a full-scale war in Lebanon. He said the region was on the brink of a full-scale catastrophe.

At a UN Security Council meeting on Lebanon on Wednesday evening, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said an all-out war must be avoided at all costs.

Israel widened its airstrikes in Lebanon overnight and at least 72 people were killed, according to a Reuters compilation of Lebanese Health Ministry statements. The ministry earlier said at least 223 had been wounded.

Israel shot down a missile that Hezbollah said it had aimed at the headquarters of the Mossad intelligence agency near Israel’s biggest city, Tel Aviv, its furthest strike yet.

General Halevi said Israel would respond: “Today, Hezbollah expanded its range of fire, and later today, they will receive a very strong response. Prepare yourselves.”

Israel said on Wednesday that its air force had struck some 280 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon by early afternoon, including rocket launchers used to attack the northern Israeli cities of Safed and Nahariya.

In a video message that made no comment on diplomatic efforts, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah was being hit harder than it could ever have imagined.

With AP, Reuters

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