Ceasefire Deal Between Israel and Hezbollah Agreed, Says Biden
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Hashim Sheikh - . November 27, 2024
- . Update: November 27, 2024 4:24 pm
US President Joe Biden has said that a ceasefire has been negotiated to put an end to the 13 month long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon have started a ceasefire but the tense region is unsure if it will endure.
A day after Israel launched its most severe round of attacks in Beirut and its southern suburbs since the start of the war.
“I applaud the courageous decision made by the leaders of Lebanon and Israel to end the violence. It reminds us that peace is possible,” Biden said in a hopeful speech from the White House Rose Garden in which he announced that the deal would come into effect at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday morning.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel stated that if Hezbollah violates any of the terms of the agreement, Israel will not think twice before striking.
“The fighting across the Lebanese Israeli border will end. This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden said while announcing the agreement on Tuesday night.
“Civilians on both sides will soon be able to safely return to their communities and begin to rebuild their homes, their schools, their farms, their businesses and their very lives,” Biden added.
“This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden stressed. “What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed to threaten the security of Israel again.”
Hezbollah will not be let to rebuild its terror infrastructure, Biden reaffirmed adding that the Lebanese army and state security forces will deploy and seize their own area in southern Lebanon over the course of the next 60 days. Israel will progressively remove its forces from Lebanon over the course of these sixty days.
According to the senior US official briefing reporters, Israeli troops will remain in their positions at the beginning of the 60 day period leading up to the ceasefire. He explained that Israel will only begin its gradual withdrawal once Lebanese military soldiers start deploying in southern Lebanon in order to prevent any voids from forming in the meantime.
The Lebanese military would be permitted to confirm that Hezbollah moved north of the Litani River during the 60 day period. The precise lines to which Hezbollah must withdraw and the precise locations of the Lebanese army’s deployment are shown on a map that has been agreed upon.
In order to make sure that any surviving Hezbollah infrastructure is destroyed and cannot be rebuilt, Lebanese troops will be assigned to patrol southern Lebanon.
