Report: Nasrallah Asked for Ceasefire

During the flareup between Israel and Hezbollah on Sunday, it was reported that the Lebanese government had asked the United States and France to intervene to halt the escalation and that contacts had ensued, but the result was not reported.

However, the result was that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah sent word—after IDF retaliations for the terror group’s attack—that he wanted to call off the fighting, according to a senior Israeli defense official quoted in media reports on Monday.

Nasrallah sent a message through Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and officials from France, Egypt and the U.S., that “from Hezbollah’s perspective the event has ended,” the Israeli source said.

“We got the message from three countries that told us there’s no reason to respond,” the official said. “They turned to us. To us it was clear that from Nasrallah’s perspective, he was interested in concluding the fighting, because he wanted to end it with his dignity intact. That doesn’t bother me, Nasrallah’s calculations, as long as our efforts to tackle the threats we face are advanced. The bottom line is that Hezbollah sent us word asking us to stop.”

The IDF reported targeting Hezbollah sites with some 100 artillery shells.

But after receiving Nasrallah’s “peace” message, Israel replied that it would hold fire as long as the terrorists did.