Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's death in Lebanon in Israeli airstrikes last week has been one of the major escalation points in the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East.
But, could it have been avoided? In an interview with CNN, Lebanon Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said that Nasrallah had agreed to a ceasefire with Israel shortly before he was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. He said that Lebanon had agreed to ceasefire after consulting with Hezbollah.
“He (Nasrallah) agreed, he agreed. The Lebanese House Speaker, Mr Nabih Berri, consulted with Hezbollah and we informed the Americans and the French about the agreement,” Bou Habib said.
ALSO READ: How Israel planned Nasrallah's murder
He also claimed that the United States and French representatives told them that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, too, had given the nod to the agreement put out by the US, France, and other allies about a 21-day ceasefire on September 25, following a meeting between US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the UN General Assembly in New York.
ALSO READ: How do bunker-buster bombs work?
Netanyahu had rejected the ceasefire proposal a day later, asking the IDF to continue "fighting with full force".
On September 28, Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah's death in the Israeli airstrike.
He was, reportedly, in a bunker in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh when it was hit by Israeli bombs. His body had no direct wounds, reports said, suggesting that the trauma from the force of the blast could have killed him.
ALSO READ: Top Hezbollah commanders killed in Israeli strikes so far
Israel has launched a “limited” ground invasion in Lebanon since October 1, which has resulted in the deaths of eight Israeli soldiers. Reports suggest that close to 2,000 people have been killed and about 9,000 injured in Lebanon in Israeli attacks since Hezbollah entered the conflict post Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. Israel is also fighting the Hamas in the Gaza Strip.