A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has occured after the two struck a U.S.-brokered deal
Thousands of Lebanese displaced by the war between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants returned home on Wednesday as a ceasefire was announced, bringing many back towards the coastal city of Tyre, despite warnings from Lebanese and Israeli troops to avoid some areas.
The U.S.-and-France-brokered deal, approved by Israel late Tuesday, calls for an initial two-month halt to fighting and requires Hezbollah to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops are to return to their side of the border. It offers both sides an off-ramp from hostilities that have driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese and 50,000 Israelis from their homes.
“Under the deal reached today, effective at 4:00 am tomorrow, local time, the fighting across the Lebanese-Israeli border will end,” President Joe Biden announced at a press conference.
“This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” he added. “What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed, I emphasize, will not be allowed, to threaten the security of Israel again.”
Despite the terms listed in the agreement, both Israel and Hezbollah are trading accusations after the Israeli military announced that its air force had struck a facility allegedly used by Hezbollah to store mid-range missiles on Thursday.
Israel said that it has also opened fire on Thursday towards what it called “suspects” with vehicles arriving at several areas in the southern zone, saying that it was a purported breach of the truce with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Later on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has directed the military to be prepared for intense fighting if the ceasefire is violated.
“We are enforcing powerfully,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14. “But if needed I gave a directive to the IDF – be prepared in case there is a violation of the framework of the ceasefire, for an intense war.”
In spite of Israeli troops stationed within Lebanese territory in towns along the border and constant surveillance, Lebanese families displaced from their homes along the southern border are returning home to check on their property.
“They were a nasty and ugly 60 days,” said Mohammed Kaafarani, 59, in an interview with AP News after his return to the Lebanese village of Bidias. “We reached a point where there was no place to hide.”
The battered Hezbollah has lost much of its mystique it acquired by fighting Israel to a stalemate in 2006 war. In spite of this, the Shiite militant group still managed to put up heavy resistance, slowing Israel’s advance while firing scores of rockets, missiles, and drones across the border each day.
Israel carried out heavy strikes until the ceasefire took hold, pounding targets in the already hard-hit southern suburbs of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah was headquartered. Residents returning to its rubble-strewn streets on Wednesday projected defiance.
Other Lebanese are more critical of Hezbollah, accusing it of having dragged the economically devastated country into an unnecessary war on behalf of its patron, Iran.
The ceasefire offers relief to both sides, giving Israel’s overstretched army a break and allowing Hezbollah leaders to tout the group’s effectiveness in holding their ground despite Israel’s massive advantage in weaponry. However, amongst many returning residents to the southern border towns on both sides, there remains a sense of lingering uncertainty for the future.
