Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire takes effect with region on edge

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect early Wednesday morning, after the Israeli and Lebanese governments approved a U.S. proposal to halt the fighting in a truce that President Biden called a permanent cessation of hostilities.

Ahead of the ceasefire deadline, 4 a.m. local time, Israel and Hezbollah traded intensive rounds of back-and-forth of rocket fire and strikes.

The truce, that included mediation by France, halts 14 months of fighting since Hezbollah began attacking Israel following Hamas’s terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The terms of the deal require Israel to gradually withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon over a period of 60 days and Hezbollah to retreat from southern Lebanon to north of the Litani river. The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Lebanese security forces are tasked with patrolling the territory of southern Lebanon to enforce that Hezbollah cannot reconstitute in the territory.

The deal builds on a 2006 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, from United Nations Security Council 1701 — that called for no Hezbollah or armed group presence south of the Litani river and was supposed to be monitored and enforced by a U.N. peacekeeping mission, but that was never successful.

To overcome that failure, the terms of the latest agreement focus on the LAF and Lebanese security forces to ensure enforcement, and have established a multi-national monitoring force, chaired by the U.S., to deter any violations of the agreement.

“The United States, together with France, are going to be joining an existing mechanism referred to as the tripartite mechanism. This is something that was created shortly after the 2006 war to include UNIFIL, the U.N. force in Lebanon, and Israel and Lebanon,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters Tuesday night. “It will now -- the agreement states that it will be reformulated and enhanced to include France and to be chaired by the United States.”

There will be no U.S. combat troops in the area but American diplomats and military personnel will be part of a team receiving any complaints of violations from either side.

“The idea here is that, unlike in 2006 where the international community reached the agreement and then abandoned the scene, here we remain committed to be on the ground day to day, watch what's happening, and to let everybody know, whether it's Hezbollah or other organiza- -- other terrorist organizations, that the world is watching,” the official said.

Still, the agreement allows Israel freedom of self-defense if there is a direct threat.

President Biden, who announced the deal on Tuesday evening, said achieving the truce in the north of Israel allows space for a renewed push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip — where efforts to establish a truce face the additional challenge of securing the release of approximately 101 hostages held by Hamas.