Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib told CNN that the 21-day ceasefire was agreed to days before Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated by Israel.
A temporary ceasefire was called for by US President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and other allies during last week’s UN General Assembly.
“He is [Nasrallah] Agreed, he agreed,” Habib told Christian Amanpour in an interview that aired Wednesday.
Senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein was to travel to Lebanon to negotiate a ceasefire, Habib continued.
“They told us that Mr. Netanyahu agreed to this, so we got Hezbollah’s agreement, and you know what happened after that,” Habib continued.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday.
A day earlier, the United States, France, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Qatar called for a 21-day ceasefire. , “to give diplomacy a chance to succeed and avoid further escalations at the border.”
Responding to a question about the waning influence of the US in the region, Habib said Washington was “always important in this regard”.
“I don’t think we have an alternative. We need America’s help. Whether we get it or not, we’re not sure yet, but [the] America is very important, important for the ceasefire to happen,” Habib said.
