JERUSALEM — Israeli officials demanded Wednesday the freedom to strike Lebanon’s Hezbollah as part of any cease-fire deal, raising a potential complication as a top U.S. envoy was in the region attempting to clinch an agreement.
The development came as an airstrike hit the historic Syrian town of Palmyra, killing 36 people, according to Syrian state-run media, which blamed the attack on Israel. The Israeli military declined to comment. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar each said Israel sought to reserve the right to respond to any violations by Hezbollah under an emerging proposal, which would push the militant group’s fighters and Israeli ground forces out of a U.
N. buffer zone in southern Lebanon. There have been signs of progress on the cease-fire deal and on Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said the Lebanese militant group supports the ongoing negotiations but has “some reservations” and rejects a provision for “freedom of movement” for Israeli troops in Lebanon.
“In any agreement we will reach, we will have to maintain our freedom to act if there will be violations,” Israeli Foreign Minister Saar told diplomats in Jerusalem. Katz said “the condition for any political settlement in Lebanon” was the right for Israel’s military “to act and protect the citizens of Israel from Hezbollah.” Amos Hochstein, the Biden administration’s point man on Israel and Lebanon, has been working to push the sides toward.
