US says Lebanon ceasefire close but no agreement yet

The United States is pushing as hard as it can to get to a truce in Lebanon but cautioned that an agreement has not yet been achieved, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday (November 25). Miller was speaking at a regular news briefing amid signs of a diplomatic breakthrough. Four senior Lebanese sources said that U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron were expected to announce a ceasefire in Lebanon between armed group Hezbollah and Israel within 36 hours. Miller said the Department doesn't believe they have an agreement yet, "we believe that we have narrowed the gaps significantly but there are still steps that we need to see taken," he added. The U.S. has pushed for a deal between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel to end the fighting that erupted in October 2023 in parallel with Israel's war against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza. The conflict in Lebanon has drastically escalated over the last two months. Signs of a diplomatic breakthrough were accompanied by heavy Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, as Israel pressed the offensive it launched in September after almost a year of cross-border hostilities. (Production: Andrea Rodriguez) For more ABS-CBN News, click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgyY1WylJUmgG2ln-vtKXb-oLlGEZc3sR Check out the latest news on upcoming Halalan 2022 here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgyY1WylJUmiGdpGgIvyNSlUsnCKyOzAM To watch the latest updates on COVID-19, click the link below: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgyY1WylJUmgUjPkc730KnTVICyQU6gBf Subscribe to the ABS-CBN News channel! - http://bit.ly/TheABSCBNNews Watch the full episodes of TV Patrol on iWantTFC: http://bit.ly/TVPatrol-iWantTFC Visit our website at http://news.abs-cbn.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abscbnNEWS Twitter: https://twitter.com/abscbnnews #ABS-CBNHighlights #LatestNews #ABSCBNNews