US President Joe Biden said a Lebanon truce will take effect early Wednesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a ceasefire with Hezbollah would allow Israel to focus its attention on Hamas and arch-enemy Iran.The ceasefire will begin at 4:00 am local time (0200 GMT), Biden said, speaking at the White House after Netanyahu’s office announced his ministers had approved the deal.Ten ministers voted in favour and one against, the Israeli premier’s office said.The United States is Israel’s key ally and military backer, and Biden hailed the deal as “good news” and a “new start” for Lebanon.Netanyahu thanked Biden for his “involvement” in brokering the deal. The United States, European Union, United Nations and G7 had all pushed for a halt to the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah after more than a year of cross-border fire and two months of all-out war in Lebanon.Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron said the ceasefire will protect Israel from Hezbollah and create the conditions for a “lasting calm”.The United States and France will ensure the deal was “fully implemented”, a joint statement said.In a televised address ahead of his security cabinet vote, Netanyahu said: “The length of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon.” The announcement followed the heaviest day of raids on Beirut — including a spate of strikes in the city’s centre — since Israel stepped up its air campaign in Lebanon in late September before sending in ground troops.The raids continued after Netanyahu’s address, with the central commercial district of Hamra coming under attack.Pressure for Israel to accept a deal had been steadily mounting, with G7 foreign ministers on Tuesday calling for an “immediate ceasefire”.Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, after demanding that the international community “act swiftly” to ensure the truce’s immediate implementation, said he was committed to strengthening the army presence in the south.He called the truce a “fundamental step” towards stability.Biden said the deal was designed to be a “permanent cessation of hostilities” between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.Under the agreement, the Lebanese army would take control of the border area on their side and “what is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations will not be allowed… to threaten the security of Israel again,” he said.The United States and France would ensure the deal was fully implemented but there would be no US troops on the ground, he added.Netanyahu said in his speech that Israel would maintain “full” freedom to act, even after the ceasefire.He said a truce would also permit Israel to redirect its efforts back to Gaza, where it has been at war with Hezbollah ally Hamas since October of last year.”When Hezbollah is out of the picture, Hamas is left alone in the fight. Our pressure on it will intensify,” he said.The agreement would also enable “focusing on the Iranian threat” and give Israel’s military time to resupply, he added.Iran is the main backer of both Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as other regional proxies that profess to be at war with Israel.Iran itself has fired two barrages of missiles and drones at Israel since the Gaza war began, most of which were intercepted by Israel or its allies.A ceasefire has faced some opposition from within Netanyahu’s own coalition, with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir warning it would be a “historic missed opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah”.The results of a flash poll by Israel’s Channel 12 showed that based on their understanding of the ceasefire proposal, 37 percent of Israelis support the deal, 32 percent oppose it and 31 percent said they were unsure.- ‘Belt of fire’ -Netanyahu’s announcement followed a flurry of strikes on central Beirut as well as on Hezbollah’s bastion in the southern suburbs.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that three strikes hit the central Nweiri neighbourhood and destroyed a “four-storey building housing displaced people”. The health ministry said the first strike killed seven people and wounded 37.”We were blown away and the walls fell on top of us,” said Rola Jaafar, who lives in the building opposite.Hezbollah lawmaker Amin Sherri, speaking to reporters at the scene of the first Nweiri strike, accused Israel of “seeking revenge on supporters of the resistance and on all Lebanese” ahead of a ceasefire.Israel’s military warned residents of four neighbourhoods of central Beirut to evacuate, the first such warnings it had issued for the city centre since war escalated in September.One strike hit the popular shopping district of Hamra, minutes after Netanyahu’s speech. The NNA said Israeli strikes had created “a belt of fire” Tuesday around Beirut’s southern suburbs.The Israeli military said it had attacked Hezbollah targets in Beirut, including “components of Hezbollah’s financial system”, as well as many others in south Lebanon.Its troops had also “engaged in close-quarters combat with terrorists” and destroyed hidden weapons caches during raids in the Litani River region.- ‘Serious mistake’ -The war in Lebanon escalated after nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah.The Lebanese group said it was acting in support of Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.Lebanon says at least 3,823 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most of them in the past several weeks.On the Israeli side, the hostilities with Hezbollah have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say.The initial exchanges forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes, and Israeli officials have said they are fighting so they can return safely.Some northern residents questioned whether that would be possible under a ceasefire.”In my opinion, it would be a serious mistake to sign an agreement as long as Hezbollah has not been completely eliminated,” said Maryam Younnes, 29, a student from Maalot-Tarshiha.Some demonstrators gathered outside Israel’s defence ministry in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening to protest against a ceasefire.- School hit in Gaza -Sustained efforts this year by mediators to secure a truce and hostage-release deal in the Gaza war have failed.But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested that a Lebanon ceasefire could change that, telling reporters that “by de-escalating tensions in the region, it can also help us to end the conflict in Gaza”.The civil defence agency in the devastated Palestinian territory said Tuesday 22 people were killed in Israeli shelling and strikes, including 11 killed in an attack on a school housing the displaced.Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel last year resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 44,249 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.burs-srm/ser
Tue, 26 Nov 2024 21:33:51 GMT
