An important victory for Israel

It may prove fragile but the 60-day ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hezbollah is an important victory over terror and Tehran’s ayatollahs after their major investment in the Lebanese Islamist group’s barbarism.

While polls in Israel show barely 20 per cent of the supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition favour the ceasefire and leading political figures such as former prime minister Naftali Bennett and former defence minister Benny Gantz oppose it, there is a need for caution. But that does not change the reality that the deal effectively brings Hezbollah, much depleted, to its knees. It is a great victory for Israel in its brave battle for survival. Hezbollah was Tehran’s principal terrorist proxy. After Hamas’s slaughter of 1200 Jews on October 7 last year, Hezbollah, at Tehran’s behest, announced it would unleash 120,000 rockets and continue attacking Israel until the Jewish state buckled and acceded to Hamas’s demands. More than 10,000 Hezbollah rockets have rained down on Israel since then, forcing 60,000 people to flee their homes.

Two months ago, Israel decided enough was enough. While continuing to deal with the remnants of Hamas in Gaza, it bombarded and invaded Hezbollah’s strongholds in southern Lebanon and Beirut. The cost in civilian lives was high. But the result – Hezbollah decimated, with much of its leadership, including Hassan Nasrallah, killed and Hamas left without Hezbollah support – was remarkable.

The terms of the deal are essentially those of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 Lebanon war and ushered in 18 years of something approximating peace. During the next 60 days Hezbollah will remove its terrorist fighters and weapons from the area between the Blue Line – the unofficial border between Lebanon and Israel – and the Litani River, about 30km north. Hezbollah’s 40,000-strong army of terrorists will be replaced by Lebanese army forces. Israel will gradually withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon. The hope is that the way will be clear for the 60,000 Israelis to return home.

The deal, if it is observed, lays the groundwork what The Wall Street Journal terms “the real achievement of the war (in Lebanon): a change in the balance of power” in the Middle East, with Iran and proxies on the backfoot. Its significance should not be lost on the international community, including the Albanese government after its limp-wristed Middle East policy ducking and weaving and premature demands for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon that have done so much to damage our formerly close ties with Israel. Hezbollah is not entirely finished, unfortunately. But what remains of it has been dealt a substantial blow.