Lebanese let their joy burst forth in the street

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect early Wednesday in Lebanon, after more than a year of cross-border hostilities and two months of open war between the Israeli army and the armed Lebanese movement supported by 'Iran. The truce, valid for 4 hours (02:00 GMT), is intended to interrupt the conflict which has forced tens of thousands of people in Israel and hundreds of thousands of others in Lebanon to flee their homes.

Shortly after the dawn ceasefire took effect, residents of southern Lebanon and the Bekaa plain began returning to their villages, forming convoys of vehicles, the agency reported Lebanese official Ani.

US President Joe Biden welcomed the ceasefire agreement on Tuesday, “a new beginning” for Lebanon and a “good news” for which the United States and France had been working for weeks. In an interview with Al-Jazeera published before the truce, American envoy Amos Hochstein indicated that Israeli forces positioned two or three kilometers from the border with Lebanon would gradually withdraw over the next 60 days. “As the Lebanese army redeploys to the south, Israeli forces will leave.”