Report: Washington Believes the Assassination of "Al-Tabtaba'i" Postponed Major Operation in Lebanon

SadaNews - A U.S. official stated that the administration of President Donald Trump believes that the assassination of Hezbollah's military leader (Haytham Al-Tabtaba'i) postponed a major Israeli operation in Lebanon, and provided Israel with political maneuverability, according to Axios.

According to the website, the Trump administration sees the resumption of war by Israel as unlikely in the upcoming weeks.

Axios clarified that Washington's vision involves creating a Trump economic zone along the Hezbollah-free border, noting that all parties "agree on the goal of disarming the party."

The U.S. site reported that yesterday's meeting in Naqoura, southern Lebanon, between Lebanese and Israeli diplomats focused on familiarizing both sides, and raised the issue of economic cooperation, particularly concerning reconstruction.

While the site quoted a U.S. official expressing Washington's "hopes" that the meeting would help ease tensions between Israel and Lebanon, it indicated that both sides agreed to meet again before the beginning of the year to reach economic proposals to build trust.

The Naqoura meeting was attended by U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus, former Lebanese ambassador Simon Karam, and the senior director for foreign policy at the Israeli National Security Council, Yuri Resnik.

Yesterday's meeting saw military technical discussions to follow up on the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, amidst mutual tensions regarding the nature and objectives of the meetings.

For its part, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel confirmed the inevitability of disarming Hezbollah and agreed on formulating ideas for potential economic cooperation.

The office claimed that the meeting of what is known as the "Oversight Committee for Ceasefire Operations" occurred in a positive atmosphere and witnessed the formulation of ideas for potential economic cooperation. The two sides also agreed to continue the dialogue.