Nasrallah's death complicates fragile Hezbollah-Israel truce talks

The Lebanese Foreign Minister announced that Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, had agreed to temporarily halt military actions with Israel. However, Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli attack just before a possible ceasefire could take effect. This raises doubts about whether Nasrallah himself approved such a plan and whether Benjamin Netanyahu was aware of it.

Lebanon's Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bu Habib, stated in an interview with CNN that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had agreed to a 21-day ceasefire with Israel a few days before his death. Western leaders, including those from the United States and France, encouraged this move.

Bu Habib stated, "NHe [Nasrallah] agreed, he agreed," as explained during the interview with American television. The politician clarified that "Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire but consulting with Hezbollah." According to the minister, the head of the Lebanese National Assembly, Nabih Berri, initiated talks with Hezbollah, and the results of these consultations were conveyed to the United States and France.

Bu Habib added: "They told us that Mr. Netanyahu agreed on this and so we also got the agreement of Hezbollah on that and you know what happened since then." However, you know what has transpired since then. The Lebanese minister's words referred to Nasrallah's death on September 27 due to an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The day before Nasrallah's death, 11 nations, including the United States, France, and the European Union, issued a joint statement calling for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. This was noted "to give diplomacy a chance to succeed and avoid further escalations across the border."

A source familiar with the negotiations, cited by CNN, confirmed that Hezbollah did indeed agree to a temporary ceasefire, just before the joint statement was published. However, CNN's informant could not confirm unequivocally whether this decision was directly approved by Nasrallah. Hezbollah's agreement would likely require, according to the arrangements, his approval.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller conveyed in an interview that the American administration had not received official confirmation that Nasrallah personally decided on the ceasefire. "I can’t speak to whether he ever agreed to it and told somebody inside Lebanon. Obviously, that could be something that happened that we wouldn’t be aware of," Miller said.

In a CNN interview, the spokesperson added, "I think all of the parties were well aware of the proposals that we were going to put forward, but at no time in those conversations did we get a message that Hezbollah had agreed or was going to agree to it.

CNN also speculated that Hezbollah was waiting for an official announcement of its position in response to a specific move from Israel. The organization never publicly announced its stance on the ceasefire proposal.

The information provided by CNN was supplemented with statements from an anonymous U.S. official, who indicated that the ceasefire proposed by the U.S. was to be accepted by Israel. However, just a few hours later, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced further attacks on Hezbollah. Israeli sources explained these actions as a "misunderstanding."

Israeli officials stated that the proposal was merely beginning a process that could eventually lead to a ceasefire. However, the American administration decided against further pushing the plan after receiving information that Israel intended to launch a new attack on Nasrallah.