Ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in effect

Location at a glance

Ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in effect

Both warring parties continued to fire heavily at each other until shortly before the ceasefire came into force. Now the weapons should be silent. Will the agreed ceasefire hold?

After more than a year of war between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, a ceasefire has been in effect since early this morning. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a sharp warning to the militia backed by arch-enemy Iran: “The duration of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon.” The ceasefire was brokered by the USA and France in order to achieve a “permanent cessation of hostilities,” as US President Joe Biden said. There was initially no reaction from Hezbollah itself to the ceasefire announcement.

The Israeli Air Force continued to carry out particularly massive attacks on the Lebanese capital Beirut and its southern suburbs until shortly before the agreed break in combat came into effect at 4:00 a.m. local time (3:00 a.m. CET). The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 10 people were killed in the attacks in central areas of Beirut. Heavy explosions could be heard all over the capital, as a reporter from the German Press Agency described that night. At 4:00 a.m. the explosions and the thunder of the fighter planes stopped. Hezbollah had also previously continued to fire rockets into northern Israel, where the sirens wailed again.

According to unconfirmed media reports about the agreement, the Shiite militia will initially withdraw behind the Litani River, about 30 kilometers north of the de facto Israeli-Lebanese border. Israel’s ground troops should then withdraw from Lebanon within 60 days. In order to prevent Hezbollah fighters from returning, soldiers from the Lebanese army, which is not actually involved in the war, will be stationed in the border area parallel to the Israeli withdrawal, a senior US government official reported.

It was said that the US did not negotiate the ceasefire with Hezbollah, but rather with the Lebanese government. They must now take responsibility for what is happening in their country. It is questionable whether it will be able to do this given the weakness of the Lebanese state. Lebanon’s acting Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for the agreement to be implemented immediately. According to the media, the ceasefire will be monitored by a group of states led by the USA with France, Lebanon, Israel and the UN peacekeeping force Unifil, which has been stationed in Lebanon for years.

The monitoring commission should also ensure that the militia does not re-arm itself. Israel claims the right to intervene militarily in Lebanon at any time if Hezbollah breaks the agreement and the Lebanese army and the international group of states fail to act. “With the full agreement of the United States, we retain full military freedom of action,” Netanyahu said. “If Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to arm itself, we will attack.” According to a senior US government official, Lebanon, along with Israel, retains the right to self-defense under international law.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke of an opportunity for Lebanon. “It is important that this ceasefire is respected and that it is permanent,” Macron said in a video published on X. The agreement supports the country’s sovereignty and heralds “a new beginning for Lebanon,” said US President Biden. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke of a “ray of hope for the entire region”. Hundreds of thousands of women, children and families in Lebanon could now find new hope, as could tens of thousands of people from northern Israel, the Green politician said in the evening.