WASHINGTON – Israel's ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah signed on Tuesday could grease the wheels for securing the release of the remaining hostages, including four Americans, held by Hamas for more than a year. Yes, the Jewish state's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, exclusively told the Post. Wednesday.
Amid an expected de-escalation of hostilities from Lebanon's Hezbollah to northern Israel, Danon said the Jewish state is becoming more committed to the return of hostages taken by Hamas in the horrific attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. He said that he would be able to concentrate his efforts. That caused the war.
“Together with Hamas, [the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire] “It will support our desire to free more hostages,” he said. “We will be able to focus on Gaza.”
At least four Americans remain in Hamas custody, and it is believed that three more bodies have yet to be recovered.
Part of the reason, Danon said, is that Israel broke Hamas's “link” with the Lebanese terrorist organization through strategic tactics and the massacre of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
During his lifetime, Prime Minister Nasrallah had hoped to link a ceasefire with Hezbollah to a ceasefire with Gaza.
“The strength and determination we have shown has broken the ties between Hamas and Hezbollah, and today it allows us to focus more on what is happening in Gaza and apply even more pressure to free the hostages. “I think I'm now able to do it,” he said.
The separation of the proxies has blunted Hamas's ambitions to lead not only its own insurgency against Israel but also a larger regional war against the Jewish state, the ambassador said.
“This is what I think today. [Hamas] “I think they realize today that their ambition to be a regional effort against Israel, with Iran and Hezbollah joining them, is not happening.” “As you know, Hezbollah is out of the game. Hamas also proved to them what we are capable of.”
“So I think today Hamas understands that there is a different reality.”
But that largely depends on whether Hezbollah sticks to the 60-day ceasefire agreement. The agreement builds on the 18-year-old United Nations resolution 1701, adopted in 2006 to end the month-long war between Israel and Lebanon. time.
“From the beginning, we said clearly that we would drive Hezbollah out of the Litani River, and we achieved this goal. As you know, we could have reduced our capabilities against Hezbollah, but the main I think the issue is still open, and that is the implementation of the agreement,” Danon told the Post.
Although the agreement was ultimately abandoned, Danon said Israel would have “zero tolerance” for a ceasefire violation by Hezbollah this time.
“If you look back to 2006 when the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1701, there were a lot of expectations, but then Hezbollah slowly came back with weapons and built massive infrastructure on the border. I did,” he said.
“Today we took a different approach. We are even more determined to ensure that something like this never happens again. And I think the implementation will be different.”
Still, the ambassador said he did not believe a cease-fire would fully prevent Iran from continuing to put pressure on Hezbollah, which is considered an Iranian proxy group, and continue attacks on Israel.
“I don't think they will stop working with Lebanon or Hezbollah completely. They have significant investments in both Lebanon and Syria and will continue to try to sow chaos in the region. I don't think they'll stop.”
“They're going to continue to spend billions of dollars on their proxies, we're seeing casualties, we're seeing the Houthis,” he said. “There was a large-scale attack on the sea.” [trade] And the cost of living around the world. ”
Ultimately, any hope of progress toward ending the war depends largely on Hezbollah sticking to the ceasefire and giving northern Israelis the opportunity to safely return to their homelands without fear of attack from Lebanon to the north.
“We have to make sure that Hezbollah withdraws from the region and redeploys its forces to Israel. But I think the challenge is then to see what is actually happening,” he said. Ta.
