The US is stepping up efforts to end the fire between Hezbollah and Israel

Ceasefire efforts between Israel and Hezbollah have intensified, with a US envoy expected to return to Lebanon for talks on a possible deal amid escalating Israeli airstrikes across the country.

Last week’s escalation, which left dozens dead in Lebanon, appears to be aimed at pressuring both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government to accept a deal to end the more than year-long conflict.

The project was handed over last week by the US ambassador to Lebanon to the speaker of the Lebanese parliament, Nabiha Berry, who was supported by Hizballah in the negotiations.

Details remain unclear, but in an apparent development, Amos Hochstein, who led the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts, is expected to return to Beirut on Tuesday.

Israel has stepped up airstrikes in southern Lebanon, where it is also conducting a ground invasion, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut. In the capital, it carried out numerous strikes on the southern suburbs known as Dahiya, where Hezbollah is based.

On Sunday, the center of Beirut was hit by terrorist attacks for the first time in a month, which killed six people, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

In the afternoon, a strike on a building in the densely populated area of ​​Ras al-Nabaa killed Mohammed Afif, who acted as Hezbollah’s spokesman and was one of the group’s few public figures.

A few hours later, a strike hit the busy Mar Elias neighborhood, another part of Beirut that is rarely shelled.

In Lebanon, the recent attacks are seen as part of Israel’s strategy to force Hezbollah and Lebanon to agree to a cease-fire, as well as a sign that it is ready to expand its offensive by killing non-military members of the group and striking locations outside areas where it has a strong presence, possibly , to incite anti-Hezbollah sentiment.

As the conflict escalated in late September, Lebanese authorities said any deal must be based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

The resolution calls for the withdrawal of the group’s fighters and weapons in areas between the “blue line” — the unofficial border between Lebanon and Israel — and the Litani River, about 30 km (20 miles) from the border with Israel.

The potential deal would likely include the creation of an international mechanism to monitor its implementation and the deployment of thousands of additional Lebanese army troops in southern Lebanon.

The agreement also provides for a time frame for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the south.

However, there remains the stumbling block of Israel’s demand to have the right to act inside Lebanon in the event of a breach of the agreement – something the Lebanese authorities find unacceptable.

Israel’s stated goal in the war against Hezbollah is to allow the return of some 60,000 residents who were displaced from communities in the country’s north by Hezbollah rocket fire.

The group launched its campaign a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel last year, saying it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

According to Lebanon’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, Israeli attacks on Lebanon last year killed 3,841 people and wounded nearly 15,000 others.

More than one million people have been displaced, putting further pressure on a country already struggling to cope with years of severe economic crisis.

According to the Israeli authorities, 31 soldiers and 45 civilians inside Israel were killed as a result of Hezbollah attacks. Another 45 Israeli soldiers died in the fighting in southern Lebanon.

Israeli airstrikes have destroyed large parts of Hezbollah’s infrastructure and killed many of its leaders, but the group continues to carry out daily attacks, albeit with less intensity.