Ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah | Lebanese return home, the army will strengthen its deployment at the border

(Beirut) The Lebanese Prime Minister announced that the army would “strengthen its deployment” in the south of the country, bordering Israel, as part of the implementation of the ceasefire agreement which ended Wednesday to the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

In a speech to the Lebanese after a government meeting, Najib Mikati asked Israel to “respect” the ceasefire and withdraw from the border areas.

The truce, which came into effect at 4 a.m. (9 p.m. Eastern time), puts a pause on the conflict which has left thousands dead and 900,000 displaced in Lebanon.

The truce agreement, negotiated under the aegis of the United States and France, provides for a gradual withdrawal of Hezbollah and Israeli troops from the south and the deployment of the Lebanese army along the border.

The Prime Minister expressed the hope that the agreement would open “a new page” in the history of Lebanon and called for the rapid election of a President of the Republic.

Najib Mikati, at the head of a resigned government, has de facto led the country for more than two years, the differences between Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, and its adversaries having prevented the election of a leader of the State.

The President of Parliament Nabih Berri, leader of the influential Shiite Amal movement, allied to Hezbollah, for his part called on Wednesday for the rapid “return” to their homes of people displaced or having fled the country because of the war.

In a televised speech, he stressed the importance for the Lebanese of preserving national “unity”.

Like Mr. Mikati, he spoke out in favor of “hastening the election of a President of the Republic”, “who brings together” the Lebanese, whose war, started by Hezbollah, has accentuated the divisions.

Thousands of Lebanese on the road home

Thousands of Lebanese chased by hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel took the road back on Wednesday, as soon as a ceasefire came into force after two months of open war between the Israeli army and the Lebanese movement armed ally of Iran.

Without waiting for the green light from the Lebanese army, thousands of inhabitants of southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa, in the east of the country, all strongholds of Hezbollah, also began to return. at home, AFP journalists noted.

In the southern suburbs of Beirut, still bombed at dawn on Wednesday, Hezbollah supporters rode on motorbikes, brandishing the party’s yellow flag, some chanting slogans in praise of their leader killed at the end of September by Israel, Hassan Nasrallah, in sound of celebratory gunfire.

“We are returning to this heroic suburb” which “overcame, we are proud,” Nizam Hamadé, an engineer who came to inspect his house, told AFP.

The southern highway was stormed by overloaded cars and vans, drivers honking and singing. “Our feeling is indescribable. Lebanon won, the State won, the people won,” says a father.

The Israeli army, however, warned residents of southern Lebanon not to approach the positions where it remains deployed – and said it fired on a vehicle doing so, forcing its occupants to turn back – or the villages it ordered evacuation.

The pro-Iranian movement opened a front “in support” of Hamas against Israel at the start of the war in Gaza, triggered on October 7, 2023 by the unprecedented attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil.

After months of cross-border exchanges of fire, Israel launched a massive bombing campaign against Hezbollah on September 23 and deployed soldiers on the 30th in southern Lebanon, bordering northern Israel.

“New beginning”

American President Joe Biden on Tuesday welcomed “a new beginning” for Lebanon, for which Washington and Paris had been working for weeks.

According to Lebanese authorities, at least 3,823 people have been killed in Lebanon in total since October 2023, most since the end of September. On the Israeli side, 82 soldiers and 47 civilians were killed in 13 months, according to the authorities.

The cessation of hostilities plan provides for a gradual withdrawal over 60 days of Hezbollah and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon, near the Israeli-Lebanese border, to allow the Lebanese army to deploy there, according to American envoy Amos Hochstein.

According to Joe Biden, the agreement is designed to lead to a permanent cessation of hostilities between the two parties, and “what remains of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed […] to once again threaten the security of Israel.

The United States, Israel’s great ally, and France will ensure that the ceasefire is “implemented in its entirety”, he pledged with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

“Focus on Iran”

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.”

The Lebanese party, which let the head of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri negotiate on its behalf, has not, so far, commented on the agreement. It emerged considerably weakened from the conflict, its leadership largely decimated.

Benjamin Netanyahu argued that the truce will allow Israel to “focus on the Iranian threat” and “intensify” its pressure on Palestinian Hamas.

Commitments about which Israeli editorialists expressed their doubts on Wednesday: “Netanyahu suggested that we start to believe him”, but “why didn’t he do in Gaza what he did in Lebanon”, and “ can we not stop the war in Gaza to bring back the hostages,” asked the center’s major daily Yediot Aharonot.

“The announcement of the ceasefire in Lebanon is a victory and a major success for the resistance,” a member of the Hamas political bureau told AFP on Wednesday, affirming that his movement was also “ ready” for a truce in the Gaza Strip.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels, also supported by Tehran like Hezbollah, Hamas and other armed groups in the region, for their part welcomed a “victory” for Hezbollah.

Israel’s sworn enemy, Iran “firmly supports the Lebanese government, the nation and the resistance”, said Iranian diplomatic spokesperson Esmaïl Baghaï in Tehran.

At the same time, the Israeli army continues its strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, where at least 22 people were killed on Tuesday, according to Civil Defense, and where thousands of displaced people are trying to protect themselves from the rain and the cold.

The war was sparked by the Hamas attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data, including hostages killed or died in captivity.

The Israeli offensive carried out in retaliation in Gaza left at least 44,249 dead, the majority of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.