The United States has gotten France to sign off on a U.N. Security Council resolution that would institute a conditional cease-fire in the Israel-Lebanon conflict.
The United States and France reached agreement Saturday on a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at ending the fighting between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said. Bolton refused to comment on the text, but an official with knowledge of the document said the draft calls for a “full cessation of violence” between Israel and Hezbollah, but would allow Israel the right to launch strikes if Hezbollah attacks it. “It does not say immediate cessation of violence,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the draft had not yet been made public.
That appeared to be a major victory for the U.S. and Israel. France and many other nations had demanded an immediate halt to the fighting without conditions as a way to push the region back toward stability.
The full, 15-nation Security Council was expected to meet later in the day to discuss the resolution, and it was likely to be adopted in the next couple of days, Bolton said.
It’s far from clear how meaningful this will be, presuming it passes the full Council. Hezbollah will certainly continue to continue firing rockets into Israel and allow Israel to continue to kill Lebanese civilians so long as it is to their operational advantage.
