Views on the Hezbollah Ceasefire

A ceasefire between the Hezbollah terrorist group and Israel came into effect at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, halting more than 13 months of fighting across Israel’s northern border, which was started by Hezbollah on 8th October 2023.

The agreement was approved by Israel’s National Security Cabinet on Tuesday and is reported to involve a 60-day period, during which the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) will withdraw from southern Lebanon, while the Lebanese Army deploys thousands of troops south of the Litani River to prevent Hezbollah from returning to its positions.

The ceasefire started well, but IDF troops detected Hezbollah terrorists attempting to return to Kfarkela in southern Lebanon and fired warning shots some hours after 4 a.m. when the ceasefire came into effect. Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, has instructed the IDF to operate forcefully against such incidents.

Academic and political commentator, Alon Burstein says the Lebanese Army, backed by the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission, will be responsible for implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 – which ended the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 – which calls for the complete dismantling of all Hezbollah infrastructure, weaponry and military bases south of the Litani River.

The Lebanese government is going to assume full responsibility for all weapons manufacturing and production in the country. And there will be an international monitoring mechanism to ensure compliance by both sides. It will be led by the United States and include the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

Joel Rosenberg, of All Israel News, says that there are deeply divided opinions about the ceasefire and that a key question is being asked: “Is it victory or is it premature surrender?” Some observers think it is too early to stop the fight against Hezbollah.

Rosenberg says Benjamin Netanyahu emphasised that it is a temporary ceasefire deal and not a longer term armistice agreement. Netanyahu also gave the Israeli people three reasons for accepting the ceasefire: (1) it will give him and the Israeli military and civilian leadership time to focus on the Iranian threat; (2) it’s a moment to refresh Israeli troops, resupply them and re-equip them, because the IDF has faced numerous delays in resupply of ammunition and weapons; (3) it’s important to isolate Hamas from Hezbollah, to disconnect the fighting in Gaza from the fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon.