'Full surrender' of Hezbollah in return for war's end?

A French initiative was proposed overnight after which communication took place between Baabda and Ain el-Tineh, Al-Jadeed TV reported on Friday.

The initiative calls for "a full surrender of Hezbollah in return for a halt to the war on Lebanon," the report said.

However, Hezbollah is "rejecting that any party negotiate on behalf of it over ending the war, stressing that when the negotiations course matures, it will be the first negotiator, seeing as it considers the previous agreement to be unideal," the report added.

Sources close to Hezbollah later told Al-Jadeed that the reports that Hezbollah wants to negotiate alone are baseless and that Speaker Nabih Berri is in charge of negotiations "like the last time."

Sources meanwhile told Al-Arabiya's Al-Hadath channel that the French ceasefire proposal says that Hezbollah would declare a cessation of hostilities and lay down its arms, and that the Lebanese Army would enter Beirut's southern suburbs.

The proposal also stipulates that Hezbollah surrender its weapons within two weeks, and that Lebanon declare its readiness to enter into direct peace negotiations, Al-Hadath said.

Sources close to Hezbollah meanwhile told Al-Hadath that "the battlefield now dictates the terms, and we reject any proposal for negotiation."

"We will confront any (Lebanese) raid on our weapons depots, just as we will confront any Israeli aggression," the sources reportedly said.

Hezbollah later issued a statement saying it had not issued any official stance regarding negotiations with Israel, adding that the remarks attributed to a Hezbollah source are baseless.