A 60-day cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah is set to go into effect in Lebanon on Wednesday at 4 p.m. local time, President Joe Biden announced today.
A temporary pause in the fighting, brokered by the United States and France, could lead to a permanent cease-fire in Lebanon. Israel attacked its northern neighbor in late September to fight Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group based in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas, an enemy of Israel in Gaza, and launched the attack against Israel in retaliation for Israel’s war in Gaza (which itself began in retaliation for the October 7, 2023, incursion into Israel by Hamas, in which the group killed approximately 1,200 people. Israeli and more than 200 prisoners).
The announcement came amid intense bombing in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, including heavily populated areas. And it comes more than a year into Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians and rendered much of the territory uninhabitable.
Netanyahu’s cabinet accepted the deal on Tuesday; Lebanese lawmakers will discuss the deal on Wednesday morning. The Hezbollah leadership, which was not a party to the talks, indicated last week that the group would accept a cease-fire agreement if Israel stopped attacking Lebanon and respected the country’s sovereignty (Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon Acted as an intermediary between the Lebanese caretaker government and militant groups.)
Here’s what you need to know:
Where does the conflict stand now?
Tuesday’s ceasefire comes after at least one false start, when the US and France tried to broker a brief truce at the end of September.
Since then, Hezbollah has declined drastically. A September attack using explosives hidden in pagers and other electronic devices killed a large number of Hezbollah fighters as well as Lebanese civilians; Although Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, it is believed to be responsible. Israel also killed senior Hezbollah leadership, including longtime leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, in a bombing near Beirut.
Tuesday represented a startling attack on Israel’s Lebanon; Heavy bombing shook densely populated parts of Beirut and 24 people were killed According to Lebanese authorities, across the country.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continues More than 3,500 Lebanese and about 75 Israeli civilians have been killed so far.. (Lebanon’s death toll, taken from the country’s Ministry of Health, combines civilian and military deaths.) About 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the Israel/Lebanon border area since October 8, 2023. That’s when Hezbollah started firing rockets into northern Israel. After the attack on Israel, the militant group Hamas.
What is in the Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire agreement?
The agreement is for a 60-day cessation of hostilities, although Biden has suggested that the deal lays the groundwork for a permanent cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel.
The talks, brokered by the US and France, stipulated that Israel and Hezbollah would not attack each other and that Israeli troops would gradually withdraw across the Blue Line – the internationally recognized border between Israel and Lebanon – within two months. Hezbollah will move its forces across the Litani River in Lebanon.
Despite promising developments, any peace seems tenuous. “If Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in a televised address on Tuesday. If they try to rebuild infrastructure on the border, dig a tunnel, launch rockets or bring in trucks loaded with missiles, we will attack.
A spokesperson for Hezbollah known The group will wait to see “if there is a match between what we said and what was agreed by Lebanese officials” before committing to a ceasefire. The group also advised to respond to any attack by Israel.
As part of the deal, thousands of Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers will deploy to southern Lebanon. A US-led monitoring agency All parties shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the agreement.
Biden assured reporters in his Tuesday briefing that no U.S. troops would be committed to Lebanon, though a senior administration official later clarified at a press briefing that, “If we need people on the ground, they’ll be in the embassy, I guess. . . . The president was clear.” “No troops will be deployed in the South, and we are not going to engage, don’t expect anyone to engage, in any kind of combat operations. It’s all in security assistance.”
What’s next for the deal?
Ideally, a lasting peace framework would be the next step for Israel and Lebanon.
But an additional hurdle remains before the ceasefire takes effect. As the deal stands now, Israel has the right to strike back if Hezbollah violates its end of the deal. As Netanyahu explained in his speech, there is a wide range of actions that would constitute a violation. He is also Dr Israeli drones will monitor Lebanese territoryWhich Lebanese officials think they didn’t agree to. Lebanese officials will meet on Wednesday morning to discuss a ceasefire agreement.
In his remarks, Biden noted that the renewed push for a Gaza ceasefire comes in the waning days of his presidency. Hezbollah previously tied its cease-fire agreement to a cease-fire in Gaza (both Hezbollah and Hamas are allied with Iran and its allies.) Pushing those stalled peace talks forward would be a logical next step.
Joshua Keating contributed reporting for this story.
