Israel-Hezbollah truce takes hold

A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah held yesterday after both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the US and France, a rare victory for diplomacy in the Middle East wracked by two wars for over a year.
Lebanon’s army, which is tasked with helping to ensure the ceasefire holds, said it was preparing to deploy to the south of the country.
The military asked that residents of border villages delay returning home until the Israeli military, which has waged war against Iran-backed Hezbollah on several occasions and pushed around 6 km (4 miles) into Lebanon, withdraws.
While the ceasefire largely held yesterday morning, Israel said it identified Hezbollah operatives returning to areas near the border and had opened fire to prevent them from coming closer.
The agreement, which promises to end a conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza offensive last year, is a major achievement for the US in the waning days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that the group “appreciates” Lebanon’s right to reach an agreement which protects its people, and hopes for a deal to end the Gaza offensive.
Iran, Turkey, other Arab states, UN and world leaders welcomed the Lebanon truce. A senior Hezbollah official 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.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire would allow Israel to focus on the threat from Iran. “We have pushed them [Hezbollah] decades back. We eliminated Nasrallah, the axis of the axis,” he said.
Cars and vans piled high with mattresses, suitcases and even furniture streamed through the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, which was heavily bombed in the final days before the ceasefire, heading south.
Some cars flew national flags, others honked, and one woman could be seen flashing the victory sign with her fingers as people started to return to homes they had fled.
Announcing the ceasefire, Biden spoke at the White House on Tuesday evening shortly after Israel’s security cabinet approved the agreement in a 10-1 vote.  “This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden said.