Report: Hezbollah rejects US-Arab proposal for ceding Ali al-Taher to army

U.S. and Arab efforts, described as last-minute attempts, were made in the past hours to hand over the Ali Taher site to the Lebanese Army, but these efforts failed because Hezbollah, acting on Iranian orders, has refused to leave the area, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“This suggests that the U.S. will give (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu a green light to seize the hill and reports indicate that Netanyahu will not back down, confirming Tel Aviv's inclination towards a military solution,” the daily said.

Separately, Nidaa Al-Watan reported that all contacts made in recent days to establish a framework for the disarmament verification committee have yielded no results and that “this means that the doors to a political solution are closed, amidst an Iranian desire to exchange Ali Taher for Hormuz, a proposal rejected by both Washington and Tel Aviv.”