After more than a year of conflict on the border between northern Israel and southern Lebanon, leaders in both nations agreed to a ceasefire.
Enforcement of the agreement, negotiated by the United States, began at 4AM local time on Wednesday and is expected to usher in a 60-day “transition period” allowing military forces of both nations as well as the terror group Hezbollah to retreat to agreed-upon positions.
Though the ceasefire has held through its first hours, Israel’s military leaders are skeptical and “getting ready for the possibility” of the ceasefire breaking, vowing to strike any “Hezbollah operatives who approach” Israeli military personnel within a specific withdrawal area.
Part of the ceasefire allows for Lebanese troops to reclaim “state authority” in an area of southern Lebanon between the Israeli border and the Litani River, the north of which Hezbollah is required to retreat. The Israeli Defense Forces announced a night-time curfew in southern Lebanon while the involved military parties begin moving to the agreed-upon locations.
The government of Iran, a financial supporter of Hezbollah and other terror groups in the Middle East, celebrated the ceasefire and the cessation of Israel’s “aggression”, with Iran’s Foreign Minister saying, “if [Lebanon] and Hezbollah are happy with this ceasefire, we are happy too.”
The same day as the ceasefire’s start, Israel announced it had found and recovered a cache of weapons sent by Iran to the West Bank for use by terrorists against Israel.
The successful negotiation of this ceasefire has lifted hopes in the White House that peace in Gaza, where Israeli forces have been rooting out Hamas terrorists ever since the October 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel, can be achieved before he leaves office next January.
The ceasefire was announced by President Joe Biden Tuesday in a Rose Garden press event, with Biden’s legacy in mind as his administration turns to Gaza in the final two months of his presidency.
Officials of the incoming Trump administration took a victory lap on the news of the ceasefire, saying “everyone is coming to the table” in fear of an American foreign policy with a “clear message to the rest of the world that chaos won’t be tolerated.”
