What was agreed to, and how long will it last? What we know about the ceasefire deal
Beirut: Israel has approved a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon’s Hezbollah that would end nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the war in the Gaza Strip.
The ceasefire, which started at 4am local time (1pm AEDT) Wednesday, marks the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza, where Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages and the conflict is more intractable.
Civil defence members work to retrieve bodies trapped under the rubble after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last weekend.Credit: Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times
This is what we know so far:
What was agreed to?
The ceasefire deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of additional Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers would be deployed in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor compliance.
Two Israeli officials said the Israeli military would withdraw from southern Lebanon within 60 days. US President Joe Biden said the troops would gradually pull out, and civilians on both sides would be able to return home.
Lebanon had pushed for Israeli troops to withdraw as quickly as possible within the truce period, Lebanese officials said. They expect Israeli troops to withdraw within the first month.
Biden said Israel reserved the right to quickly resume operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the truce but that the deal “was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities”.
What started the Israel-Hezbollah conflict?
Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel on October 8, 2023, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have exchanged barrages since.
Israel escalated its bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes.
More than 3760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon in the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2000 Hezbollah members.
Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country’s north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon.
What is Hezbollah?
Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shiite Muslim militant group that emerged in the early 1980s during the 15-year Lebanese civil war. Its ideology calls for the destruction of the Israeli state and pledges allegiance to Iran’s supreme leader.
Lebanese police stand in front of a portrait shows the late Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.Credit: AP
It has been behind a number of deadly terror attacks around the world and has been declared a terrorist organisation by Australia, the US, Israel, the United Kingdom, the European Union and several countries across the Arab world.
The radical group, which constitutes a political party and a military arm, receives hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as substantial training and weapons from Iran. The name Hezbollah translates to “party of God” or “party of Allah”.
While it is designated internationally as a terrorist group, its political wing in Lebanon has also developed a substantial social services network for its supporters. However, political support for Hezbollah has fallen, with the group and its allies losing their parliamentary majority in Lebanon’s most recent 2022 election, when they secured 62 seats in the country’s 128-member parliament.
Will this force a Gaza ceasefire deal?
Biden, speaking in Washington, called the agreement between Israel and Hezbollah “good news” and said his administration would make a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“They, too, deserve an end to the fighting and displacement,” Biden said. “The people of Gaza have been through hell. Their world has been absolutely shattered. Far too many civilians in Gaza have suffered far too much.”
The Biden administration spent much of this year trying to broker a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza, but the talks repeatedly sputtered to a halt. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to bring peace to the Middle East without saying how.
Still, any halt to the fighting in Lebanon is expected to reduce the likelihood of war between Israel and Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas and exchanged direct fire with Israel on two occasions earlier this year.
What are the reactions from around the world?
While France and Biden brokered the ceasefire, Donald Trump’s team says the US president-elect should take credit.
“Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick for national security adviser, said in a post on X, shortly before Israel signed off on the agreement. “His resounding victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos won’t be tolerated. I’m glad to see concrete steps towards de-escalation in the Middle East.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said it was “the culmination of efforts undertaken for many months with the Israeli and Lebanese authorities, in close collaboration with the United States”.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the deal. Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the Lebanese army would be ready to have at least 5000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong says it should be the catalyst for an end to conflict in the Middle East.
“We’ve been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for over 11 months now, and we see every week the death toll rising, more children, more women,” she said.
“But today, we are very pleased to see that there is a ceasefire with Hezbollah and that the people of Lebanon and Israel can know some peace.”
Reuters, AP, AAP