Israel, Hezbollah Agree To US, France-backed Ceasefire

A ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah began on Wednesday after United States President Joe Biden announced that both sides accepted an agreement brokered by America and France.

This is as gunfire could be heard across Beirut after the ceasefire took effect.

Although it was not immediately clear if the shooting was celebratory, as gunfire had also been used to alert residents who may have missed evacuation warnings issued by Israel’s military.

Streams of cars carrying people displaced from southern Lebanon by Israeli strikes in recent months began heading back to the area after the ceasefire, according to Reuters.

The ceasefire promises to end a conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect at 0200 GMT on Wednesday after President Biden said both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the United States and France.

Biden spoke at the White House on Tuesday shortly after Israel’s security cabinet approved the agreement in a 10-1 vote.

He said he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and that fighting would end at 4 a.m. local time.

“This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden said.

“What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations will not be allowed to threaten the security of Israel again.”

Biden said Israel will gradually withdraw its forces over 60 days as Lebanon’s army takes control of territory near its border with Israel to ensure that Hezbollah does not rebuild its infrastructure there.

“Civilians on both sides will soon be able to safely return to their communities,” he added.

Hezbollah has not formally commented on the ceasefire but senior official Hassan Fadlallah told Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV that while it supported the extension of the Lebanese state’s authority, the group would emerge from the war stronger.

“Thousands will join the resistance. Disarming the resistance was an Israeli proposal that fell through,” said Fadlallah, who is also a member of Lebanon’s parliament.

Iran, which backs Hezbollah, the Palestinian group Hamas as well as the Houthi rebels that have attacked Israel from Yemen, said it welcomed the ceasefire.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on X (formerly Twitter) that the deal was “the culmination of efforts undertaken for many months with the Israeli and Lebanese authorities, in close collaboration with the United States.”

Lebanon’s Mikati issued a statement welcoming the deal. Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the Lebanese army would have at least 5,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdrew.

Netanyahu said he was ready to implement a ceasefire but would respond forcefully to any violation by Hezbollah.

He said the ceasefire would allow Israel to focus on the threat from Iran, allow the army to rest and replenish supplies, and isolate Hamas, the Islamist militant group that triggered war in the region when it attacked Israel from Gaza last year.

“In full coordination with the United States, we retain complete military freedom of action. Should Hezbollah violate the agreement or attempt to rearm, we will strike decisively,” Netanyahu said.

“Hezbollah, which is allied to Hamas, was considerably weaker than it had been at the start of the conflict,” he added.

“We have set it back decades, eliminated its top leaders, destroyed most of its rockets and missiles, neutralised thousands of fighters, and obliterated years of terror infrastructure near our border,” he said.

A senior U.S. official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. and France would join a mechanism with the UNIFIL peacekeeping force that would work with Lebanon’s army to deter potential violations of the ceasefire and hinted that U.S. combat forces would not be deployed.

Deputy national security adviser in the Biden administration, Jon Finer told CNN that Washington would be watching for any violations of the deal.

“Implementation of this agreement will be key and we will be very vigilant to any attempts to disrupt what the two parties have committed to as part of this process today,” he said.

Biden, who leaves office in January, said his administration would continue to push for an elusive ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza, as well as for a deal to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.