Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire takes effect, halting deadly war in Lebanon
A ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon appeared to be holding after it came into effect at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday (10 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday). President Biden announced the ceasefire deal Tuesday, saying the U.S. and France had helped broker the agreement.
Celebratory gunshots were heard in Beirut, where people took to the streets to cheer the cessation of hostilities — however long it lasts.
Lebanon's army said it was preparing to send troops to the country's south, where they will help ensure the truce deal is adhered to, and they asked residents of the border region not to return until Israeli forces pull out, according to the Reuters news agency.
The Israeli military warned Lebanese residents to stay away from previously evacuated areas across the south, east and around the capital Beirut, but several highways were crowded with vehicles carrying people back to their homes, many of which were in ruins after months of devastating Israeli airstrikes.
The ceasefire doesn't cover the ongoing fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, another militant group backed by Iran. But Hamas said Wednesday that it, too, was ready to negotiate a truce.
"We have informed mediators in Egypt, Qatar and Turkey that Hamas is ready for a ceasefire agreement and a serious deal to exchange prisoners," a senior Hamas official told the French news agency AFP, again accusing Israel of blocking a truce deal.
The Reuters news agency quoted Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri as saying the group understood Lebanon's right to reach a unilateral agreement with Israel to protect its people, and that he hoped a deal to end the war in Gaza could also be reached.
Mr. Biden's announcement came Tuesday as the Israel security cabinet approved the ceasefire, after urging from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The war between Israel and the so called Iranian proxy group Hezbollah has killed almost 3,800 people in Lebanon over the last year and left about 16,000 others wounded, according to the country's health ministry.
"I have some good news to report from the Middle East," Mr. Biden said on the White House South Lawn. "I just spoke with the Prime Minister[s] of Israel and Lebanon. I'm pleased to announce that their governments have accepted the United States' proposal to end the devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. I want to thank President Macron of France for his partnership in reaching this moment."
"This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities," he added. "What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed — I emphasize, will not be allowed — to threaten the security of Israel ever again."
Under the agreement, over the next 60 days, the Lebanese Army and state security forces will take control once again, Mr. Biden said, and Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces. Since the war with Hezbollah began, more than 70,000 Israelis have been "forced to live as refugees in their own country," he said, while over 300,000 Lebanese people have been forced from their homes.
"Let's be clear," Mr. Biden said. "Israel did not launch this war. The Lebanese people did not seek that war either, nor did the United States."
Echoing earlier remarks by Netanyahu, Mr. Biden said that if Hezbollah or anyone else violates the ceasefire and poses a direct threat to Israel, then Israel retains the right to self-defense.
In a joint statement released later, Mr. Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron said "the announcement today will cease the fighting in Lebanon, and secure Israel from the threat of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations operating from Lebanon," adding that it would "create the conditions to restore lasting calm and allow residents in both countries to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line [Lebanon-Israel border]."
Netanyahu said Israel's war cabinet had approved the ceasefire and he had urged ministers in the full cabinet to approve the deal Tuesday night. He did not give specifics, but said if Hezbollah breaks the terms, Israel would "respond severely."
The ceasefire has halted the deadliest war to take place in Lebanon since its civil war, which ended in 1990.
Under the agreement, there will be 60 days permitted for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces — a gradual withdrawal to allow the Lebanese forces to mobilize and move in to secure the area. A U.S. official told CBS News earlier Tuesday that the first peel-off of Israeli troops would begin within 10 days.
Hezbollah is expected to pull its forces and heavy weapons back about 20 miles from the Israeli border, to the Litani River, a senior Biden administration official told reporters in a call Tuesday, while the Lebanese Armed Forces will move south of that line and take up positions. Hezbollah, as part of the agreement, will not be permitted to rebuild infrastructure or weaponry again in the area they vacate, the official said.
"As the Lebanese military deploys and reaches the south, the Israeli military will withdraw," the official explained.
U.S. troops will not deploy in the area, but the U.S. and France will provide additional support — including equipment, training and financial resources — to the Lebanese army, the official added. That will be done through the Military Technical Committee, a previously formed international coalition that was revived by the U.S. a few months ago.
The U.S. and France will also join an existing mechanism referred to as the Tripartite Mechanism which was created shortly after the last war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006, the official said. The U.S. will chair it, and through diplomats and military personnel, receive and attempt to address complaints by either side of potential violations.
The Biden administration official said the incoming Trump team was not involved in the ceasefire negotiations, however, following the election — and once it appeared that a deal may be close — the current administration briefed President-elect Donald Trump's national security team for the first time on the tenets of the deal, saying the Trump team seemed supportive.
According to a U.S. official, Iran was also briefed, given Tehran's longtime support of Hezbollah. Long a powerful military and political entity in Lebanon, Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist group by both the U.S. and Israel for years.
Hezbollah started firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of its Hamas allies who sparked the war in Gaza with their terror attack the previous day.
Israel carried out airstrikes on purported Hezbollah targets for months, but in September it dramatically escalated its assault on the Iranian proxy group, including by launching ground operations in the south of Lebanon.
CBS News correspondent Debora Patta said rockets were still flying in both directions over Israel's northern border on Tuesday before the deal was announced, with Israel and Hezbollah trading some of their heaviest fire to date.
Despite the deal to end the fighting in Lebanon that was sparked by the parallel war in Gaza, negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have thus far gone nowhere.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier Tuesday that deescalating tension in the region with a Lebanon truce "can also help us to end the conflict in Gaza."
"In particular, Hamas will know it can't count on other fronts opening up in the war," he said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement late Tuesday that "as we welcome the news of this ceasefire, we also hope that deescalating tensions across the Israel-Lebanon border also brings renewed hope for ending the tragic conflict in Gaza. We must continue to focus on improving the desperate humanitarian conditions in Gaza, and we remain committed to securing the release of all of the hostages in Gaza, including U.S. citizens."
Many in the decimated Palestinian territory are hungry, and recent rainstorms have made living conditions there even worse. A winter chill has set in, and there were reports of a fresh Israeli strike killing about 15 people Tuesday in Gaza City.