WASHINGTON, D.C. – After more than a year of war, there’s a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah. The US brokered truce aims to lay the foundation of a longer ceasefire agreement.
“I applaud the courageous decision made by the leaders of Lebanon and Israel to end the violence,” said President Joe Biden. “Peace is possible and as long as that’s the case I’ll never not stop working to achieve it.”
Shortly after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Iranian backed group Hezbollah was put in place, thousands of Lebanese people began returning to their homes in southern Lebanon.
The 60-day truce was brokered by the US with the help of France. According to a senior White House official, the Lebanese military and security forces will begin their deployments towards southern Lebanon within that time period where Hezbollah has been operating out of.
Just hours before this deal was set, Israeli forces heavily damaged the capital Beirut and Hezbollah-dominated areas south of the city. Now with this deal, it seeks to end one of Lebanon’s deadliest wars in decades.
“So why doing ceasefire now,” said Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a television address. “There are three main reasons: first focusing on the Iranian threat and I will not expand on that. Two, refreshing the military forces and our equipment. The third reason for ceasefire detaching the front of the war from Hamas.”
“Well, if [the] Israeli regime wants to have more [concentration] on Iran, they can try it,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. “They have tried it in the past. Then they know our capabilities. They know how we can defend ourselves. But I have to emphasize that contrary to [the] Israelis, we don’t want escalation in the region. We don’t want war. Of course. We are prepared for a war, even a full scale war. But this is not our wish. This is not our choice.”
The war has heavily damaged cities in Lebanon, killed thousands and displaced nearly a million people according to their government.