Israel approves ceasefire in Lebanon

Israeli Channel 12 has reported that Israel has agreed a ceasefire in Lebanon, according to the Arab News via Reuters on November 26th.

The according was expected to take effect on November 27th. The report followed a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet convened to discussion a truce.

Israel agreeing to the deal would allow for a ceasefire declaration by US President Biden and French President Macron, four senior Lebanese sources told Reuters on November 25th.

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Despite the breakthrough on the diplomatic front, Israel today ramped up its campaign of air strikes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon. Israel’s military said one barrage of strikes had hit 20 targets in the capital in just 120 seconds, killing at least seven people and injuring 37, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

The ceasefire deal requires Israel’s military to withdraw from the south of Lebanon and that Lebanon’s army be deployed in the region, according to officials. Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.

Lebanon’s foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib said Lebanon’s army would be ready to have at least 5,000 troops deployed in the south as Israel’s troops leave, and that the US could play a role in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by Israel.

Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said on November 25th that his country will show “zero tolerance” towards any infraction of the agreement. Israel demands that the UN enforce the ceasefire effectively.

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Over 3,750 people have been killed in Lebanon over the past year and more than a million have bee forced to flee their homes, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

45 civilians have been killed in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, while 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed in those two territories and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.

Reuters