Blinken says world wants ceasefire along Israel-Lebanon border amid truce talks

According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, countries worldwide including prominent Arab countries, G7 nations, and the European Union are urging an immediate cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

Asked about Israel’s rejection of a U.S.-backed Lebanon ceasefire proposal, Blinken told MSNBC: “The world is speaking clearly for virtually all of the key countries in Europe and in the region on the need for the ceasefire.” He added that he would be meeting with Israeli officials in New York later on Thursday.

However, Israel flatly rejected on Thursday a push led by key backer the United States for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, as it vowed to keep fighting Hezbollah militants “until victory”.

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“There will be no ceasefire in the north. We will continue to fight against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a post on social media platform X.

Israel earlier this month said it was shifting its focus from Gaza, where it has been fighting a war with Hamas since the October 7 attack, to securing its border with Lebanon.

Hamas ally Hezbollah has been fighting Israeli troops across the Lebanon border since October, forcing tens of thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes.

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The hostilities between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group have raised fears of a regional war. Israel widened its airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday and killed dozens.

Israeli airstrikes this week have targeted Hezbollah militant leaders and hit hundreds of sites deep inside Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands have fled the border region, while the group has fired barrages of rockets into Israel. Scores have been killed in Lebanon.

According to the UN, Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon had by Wednesday forced 90,000 people to flee their homes in traditional Hezbollah strongholds to safer areas elsewhere in the tiny Mediterranean country.

On Thursday, two Syrian security sources told AFP more than 22,000 people had crossed the Lebanese border into Syria this week, most of them Syrians.

With inputs from agencies.