A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect early on Wednesday, November 27, after more than a year of cross-border hostilities and two months of open war between the Israeli army and the powerful Lebanese formation supported by Tehran .
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect this Wednesday, November 27 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 since 4 local hours (3 hours in Paris) must 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.
These hostilities led to bombings on Lebanon and the deployment of Israeli soldiers across the border between the two countries to confront Hezbollah fighters.
More than 3,800 deaths in one year
American President Joe Biden welcomed the ceasefire agreement this Tuesday, “a new beginning” for Lebanon and “good news” for which the United States and France had been working for weeks.
The Israeli army has 60 days to gradually withdraw from Lebanon, according to details provided by a senior American official to Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity, and Hezbollah must also withdraw from the southern border with Israel.
Before the final Israeli green light, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that the duration of the ceasefire would depend “on what happens in Lebanon.” “We maintain complete freedom of military action” in Lebanon, he added: “If Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack.”
According to Lebanese authorities, at least 3,823 people have been killed in Lebanon in total since October 2023, most of them in recent weeks. Hostilities there have displaced some 900,000 people, according to the UN. On the Israeli side, 82 soldiers and 47 civilians were killed in 13 months in clashes with Hezbollah, according to the authorities.
Shooting into the night
The announcement of the agreement came after Israel on Tuesday shelled the center of Beirut and its southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah, like never before since it launched a bombing campaign on September 23 targeting the movement in the neighboring country, then began ground operations in the south on September 30.
During the night, before the agreement came into force, the two parties continued their military operations: Israel notably struck a building in the center of Beirut then ordered the evacuation of areas in the center and suburbs of the Lebanese capital, while Hezbollah said it had launched drones against “sensitive military targets” in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Hezbollah did not participate directly in the truce negotiations, instead calling on Parliament head Nabih Berri to negotiate on its behalf, and has so far not commented on the agreement.
The war in Lebanon has considerably weakened the pro-Iranian movement. Its leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed on September 27 in a powerful Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, as were many of his senior officials.
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