Baby steps for a longer cease fire?
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon and Israel were set to begin a second session of direct talks in Washington on Thursday to discuss the possibility of extending
a truce between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group and plans for future negotiations between the two neighbors with a long history of hostile relations. The meeting between Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad and her Israeli counterpart Yechiel Leiter is the second between the two diplomats,
days after they held the first such direct talks between the two countries in three decades.
Lebanon President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday that
contacts are ongoing to extend the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect Friday.
Hamadeh will put forward an extension of the ceasefire during the meeting and ask for an end to ongoing Israeli
home demolitions in
villages and towns occupied by Israel after the latest war broke out on March 2, Aoun said in comments released by his office. Preparations are ongoing for wider-reaching negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. The aim of the future talks is to “fully” stop Israeli attacks, withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel,
deployment of Lebanese troops along the border and beginning the reconstruction process, Aoun said.
But will Lebanese troops fire at Hezbollah formations who (it can be predicted) will violate the cease fire - as they have done every time there has been one for years. That's the big unanswered question, however this is a nice step forward to the current round of fighting to stop for much longer.
Since Lebanon does not have an air force worthy of the name, who will provide aerial surveillance for cease fire adherence, zone security?
IAF, probably.
(Not sure how UNIFIL fits into this, nor what air assets they have, but I think that most "observer" missions can be handled by UAVs and Drones).