“Before the signing of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, the key question for punters was whether it would be signed. On Wednesday, the big question was when the agreement would be violated”ironically Ha'Aretz.
If we are to believe the actors in the conflict, it is already done. “Israel has carried out several attacks over the past two days against targets in Lebanon, despite the entry into force, on November 27, of a ceasefire agreement between the Jewish state and Hezbollah”écrit The Orient-The Day. “Described by the Lebanese army as 'violations' of this agreement, these attacks are enough to raise many doubts about the solidity of the ceasefire agreement”.
“It is only the second day of the ceasefire and its fragility has already become evident, with Israel, on one side, and Lebanon and Hezbollah, on the other, accusing each other during the day for having raped him”adds The Country.
The Israeli army confirmed that it carried out its first airstrike on Lebanon since the start of the truce on Thursday, targeting a rocket warehouse in the south of the country.
Lebanese authorities also reported “scattered incidents of Israeli mortar attacks, strikes and gunfire that injured two people trying to return to southern Lebanon”according to CBS News. “Lebanese state media said the injured were civilians, while the Israeli army described them as suspects who had violated the terms of the truce”.
The truce holds despite the violence
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained this on television on Thursday. “I spoke of a ceasefire, not an end to the war. If the red lines of the agreement are crossed, we will enter into a full-scale war”he said. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, for his part, promised that Israel would respond “hard” any violation of the ceasefire agreement.
These threats are in line with what “The Israeli army and government declared even before the ceasefire agreement came into force that Israel would enforce the truce with fire. And that he would not allow Hezbollah to move freely in southern Lebanon” or from “rearm”note Al-Jazeera.
“This is Israel’s interpretation of the agreement”even if the signed text “does not include the right of the Jewish state to enforce the ceasefire”insists the Qatari channel, which fears that “ce genre d’incidents” will not multiply in the coming weeks.
“These outbreaks of violence, which do not appear to have caused serious casualties, reflect the precarious nature of the ceasefire”recognizes CBS News. But the American channel emphasizes that despite these upheavals, “the truce appeared to be holding on Thursday, as Lebanese troops began to deploy in parts of southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah has based its operations”.
No large-scale fighting
An opinion shared by the New York Timeswhich takes note of Thursday's Israeli attack, “the first of its kind since the ceasefire came into force”but emphasizes that “despite an exchange of reproaches between the two parties to the agreement – Israel and Lebanon – neither of the two combatants in the war, Israel or Hezbollah, appeared to want to immediately resume large-scale fighting”.
“After months of fighter jets and rockets in the sky and explosions on the ground, calm reigned over much of Lebanon and northern Israel on Thursday.”observes the New York daily.
But for how long? Ha'Aretz is hardly optimistic. “In Israel, we have absolute certainty that the ceasefire will be violated. If not in the next two months, then certainly in a few months or a year”writes the daily.
“The basic assumption is that Hezbollah will do everything possible to replenish its ranks with fighters and commanders on the ground, restock its weapons and ammunition depots, and ultimately spill over again into southern Lebanon to reestablish the balance of deterrence against Israel”explains the Israeli title.
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