The Lebanese and Israeli governments have agreed to a U.S. proposal to end “the devastating conflict” between Israel and the Hezbollah group, President Joe Biden has announced.
The agreement is slated to go into effect Wednesday at 4 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) and will see the Lebanese Armed Forces “deploy and take control of” southern Lebanon over the course of the next 60 days, during which time, “Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces,” the president said in televised remarks.
Biden said the U.S. alongside France and other allies have “pledged to work with Israel and Lebanon to ensure that this arrangement is fully implemented.”
He maintained that while there will be no U.S. troops on the ground in southern Lebanon, “we, along with France and others, will provide the necessary assistance to make sure this deal is implemented fully and effectively.”
At least 55 people were killed Monday in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, bringing the death toll since October 2023 to 3,823, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Tuesday. A total of 160 others were wounded over the past 24 hours, raising the number of injuries to 15,859.
In recent hours, Israeli airstrikes on the Lebanese capital Beirut and its southern suburbs, as well as the southern and eastern provinces of the country, have intensified, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.
“This has been the deadliest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in decades. How many of Hezbollah’s senior leaders are dead, including its longtime leader, Nasrallah?” Biden said, referring to Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a series of dozens of Israeli airstrikes on southern Beirut in September.
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“Lasting security for the people of Israel and Lebanon cannot be achieved only on the battlefield, and that’s why I directed my team to work with the governments of Israel and Lebanon to forge a ceasefire, to bring the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to a close,” he added.
Hezbollah began a series of ballistic missile, rocket and drone attacks on Israel shortly after the Palestinian group Hamas launched its Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack on Israel. The Lebanese group says its attacks are meant to demonstrate solidarity with Hamas and the people of Gaza and pressure Israel for a cease-fire in the besieged coastal enclave.
Israel retaliated with massive airstrikes across the small Mediterranean country against what it said are Hezbollah targets. In October, it expanded its offensive to include a ground invasion of Lebanon.
Biden said that “over the coming days” the U.S. alongside Türkiye, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and other countries “will make another push” for a ceasefire in Gaza that will end the Israeli offensive there and lead to the release of the over 100 hostages who remain there.
He added that Washington “remains prepared to conclude a set of” what he called “historic deals with Saudi Arabia” which include a security pact and economic assurances “together with a credible pathway for establishing a Palestinian state and the full normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a desire they both have.”
Earlier this evening, Israel’s cabinet agreed to a ceasefire with Hezbollah, hours after PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the security cabinet had approved it and the proposal would move to the full cabinet.
According to media reports, the deal would involve Israeli troops withdrawing from southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah would pull back north of the Litani River, ending its presence in the south.
This would take 60 days, and the Lebanese army, which has largely remained a bystander in the current war, would deploy to the south to monitor the ceasefire.
An international task force headed by the United States that includes French peacekeepers would also be deployed to oversee implementation of the truce.
The Lebanese army will be required to expand its role in Lebanon, most notably in the south where it would become the only armed body and take over all arms-related activity in the country.
Lebanese and Israeli civilians would then be allowed to gradually return to their homes.
