Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has climbed down from its demand of truce in Gaza as a precondition for truce in Lebanon as is now ready for truce with Israel. Hezbollah's latest stance is widely being seen as the militant group going on a backfoot following Israel's relentless strikes against Hezbollah positions and infrastructure. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been able to eliminate several top leaders of Hezbollah including its co-founder and former chief Hassan Nasrallah in last few weeks.
"We support the political efforts led by (Parliament Speaker Nabih) Berri under the banner of achieving a ceasefire. Once the ceasefire is firmly established and diplomacy can reach it, all other details will be discussed and decisions will be made collaboratively," said Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem, as quoted by CNN.
"We are currently in a position of power, a ceasefire will be on our terms, including a [Hezbollah] withdrawal beyond the Litani [River] and the dismantling of all military Hezbollah sites in areas near the border," said an Israeli official as quoted by 'The Times of Israel'
The Israeli daily meanwhile, has reported citing Israeli TV channel that the US and Arab countries are covertly holding talks with Iran to try and calm all wars in Middle East (West Asia) at once. Iran backs Hezbollah and has a wide network of proxies in the region. Iran is Israel's bitter enemy.
US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday said that Hezbollah's offer for ceasefire was a sign that they are on backfoot.
"For a year, the world has been calling on Hezballah to stop the attacks across the border into Israel. And for a year, Hezballah said that they would not do it unless there was a ceasefire in Gaza. They linked the two when the international community was saying stop the fighting, and Israel was saying if Hezballah stopped attacks across the border Israel would stop its attacks in response against Hezballah," Miller said.
He however added that the US does not trust Hezbollah.
The State Department Spokesperson also said that the ceasefire call was also a sign that Israel had successfully weakened Hezbollah's military might.
