What we know about the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which entered into force last night

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, November 27 at 4 a.m. local time (3 a.m. Paris time), after more than a year of cross-border hostilities and two months of open war between the Israeli army and the Lebanese armed formation. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed a “fundamental step” towards regional stability.

Key role of the United States and France

The agreement, negotiated by the American special envoy to Lebanon, Amos Hochstein, emerged after several weeks of negotiations, in which the United States and France played an important role. International diplomacy relied in particular on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 and which stipulates that only the Lebanese army and peacekeepers can be deployed on the southern border of Lebanon.

The American President, Joe Biden, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, jointly welcomed Tuesday evening the announcement of the implementation of the ceasefire, after the approval of the text by the Israeli security cabinet. The agreement “will create the conditions necessary for the lasting restoration of calm and allow the safe return to their homes of residents on both sides of the “blue line””the border between the two countries drawn by the United Nations, they declared in a joint statement.

Both presidents indicated that their countries would ensure that the agreement was “fully implemented and enforced”. They assured that he “would protect” Israel of the « menace » of Hezbollah, committing to work to strengthen “abilities” of the Lebanese army and the recovery of the country's economy. “We could say that this agreement is the fruit of hard work that has been carried out over many months, and that it is a success for French diplomacy and that we can be proud of it”welcomed Jean-Noël Barrot, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday on Franceinfo.

A sixty-day transition phase

In addition to stopping the fighting, the agreement provides for the establishment of a sixty-day transition phase during which Israeli troops will have to evacuate southern Lebanon, where they entered from 1^is october. At the same time, Hezbollah forces will have to withdraw north of the Litani River, around twenty kilometers from the border.

During this two-month phase, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) will, on the contrary, gradually redeploy in the border strip evacuated by Hezbollah. They are authorized to immediately send between 1,000 and 2,000 men to the South, then up to 6,000 men over the next six months.

Wednesday morning, the Lebanese army announced ” takes[re] the necessary measures to complete its deployment in the South and (…) implement its missions in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon [Finul] ».

The number of peacekeepers must increase

Since the start of the Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon at the end of September, UNIFIL was practically no longer able to exercise its mandate. With this ceasefire agreement, the approximately 10,000 peacekeepers will be able to be redeployed along the “blue line”.

The truce agreement provides in particular that the number of peacekeepers will be increased. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, specified Wednesday morning that the 700 French soldiers of the French contingent of UNIFIL, already present in Lebanon, were going to play “an important role”.

A monitoring committee will be created

To prevent the scenario of the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah, in 2006, from repeating itself, and so that the agreement is respected by the parties, a monitoring committee, composed of five countries and chaired by the United States , will be created. It will also include France as well as an already existing structure, the tripartite committee (Lebanon, Israel and the United Nations), which had become inoperative since the start of the war.

The Israeli army and Hezbollah on alert

According to Joe Biden, the agreement was designed to result in a permanent cessation of hostilities between the two parties. Despite signing this truce, Hezbollah assured that it would continue to fight Israel as long as the offensive in Gaza continued.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday evening, declaring that the duration of the ceasefire would depend “about what will happen in Lebanon”. “We maintain complete freedom of military action”he added: “If Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack”. The Israeli army said Wednesday morning « agi[r] accordingly » of the agreement in southern Lebanon, saying however “in high defensive readiness”in case « viol[ation] of the ceasefire agreement.

The announcement of the agreement also came in a climate of tensions that was still high, at the end of a day when Israel shelled the center of Beirut and its southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, like never before since it took over. launched a bombing campaign targeting the Shiite movement on September 23, then began ground operations in southern Lebanon on September 30. The Shiite movement also claimed responsibility in the evening for shooting towards northern Israel as well as the launching of drones on “sensitive military targets” in Tel Aviv.