Smoke billows over Khiam, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as pictured from Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, on 29 October 2024.;
Credit: REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
(Reuters) - US President Joe Biden's senior advisers Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk will arrive in Israel on Thursday 31 October 2024 to try to close a deal that would end the war in Lebanon, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing three unidentified sources.
A deal that would end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could be achieved within a few weeks, Israeli and US officials said, according to Axios.
Hochstein and McGurk are expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, according to the Axios report.
Israeli and US officials believe that Hezbollah is finally willing to disconnect itself from Hamas in Gaza after some of the blows that the Lebanese armed group faced over the past two months, including the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, the Axios report said.
Axios reporter Barak Ravid said on X earlier in the day that Netanyahu was to hold a meeting on Tuesday evening with ministers and the heads of the country's military and intelligence community about talks for a diplomatic solution to the war in Lebanon, citing two sources.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
