It was during the night, at morning local time, that the ceasefire agreement came into force between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. An agreement negotiated at the initiative of the United States and France.
From dawn, thousands of people began to return to southern Lebanon, causing huge traffic jams on the roads.
The Lebanese army, however, called on residents to be patient and wait for the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Because this withdrawal, just like that of Hezbollah fighters from the southern border of Lebanon, must be carried out over a period of 60 days.
This withdrawal must be accompanied by the redeployment of the Lebanese army, ultimately with 6,000 men, as well as some 10,000 peacekeepers from UNIFIL, the UN force, whose contingent should be increased.
A long transition
The agreement is thus based on a UN Security Council resolution which ended the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
A monitoring committee led by the United States must oversee this truce.
Because this 60-day transition period leaves a lot of room for miscalculations or violations of the ceasefire.
The concern on the Israeli side is to see Hezbollah take advantage of these two months to rearm and not withdraw. Doubts remain about the Lebanese government's ability to prevent arms sales to the terrorist organization. According to an ARD correspondent in Israel, “The inhabitants of the evacuated (Israeli) localities do not want to return as long as they have to fear this threat.”
New diplomatic efforts for Gaza
In a declaration with a martial tone, the Israeli Prime Minister assured that Israel maintained “complete freedom of military action”. According to Benjamin Netanyahu, “if Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack”.
It will also be seen if this agreement can help unblock negotiations on a truce in the Gaza Strip. According to US President Joe Biden, “The United States will lead a renewed effort with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and other countries to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of hostages and an end to war without Hamas in power.
