New Delhi: Israel, which has been conducting strikes on Palestine for the past year and had recently begun attacking Lebanon, has signed a ceasefire deal with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
US President Joe Biden announced the deal, saying that fighting across the border will end at 4 am Lebanon time. The truce is understood to have been brokered by the US and France.
The deal, based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, calls on Israel to withdraw forces from Lebanon in the next 60 days. Biden said that Lebanon’s military must take control of territory in the south of the country to ensure Hezbollah does not rebuild forces. Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres from the border with Israel.
“The length of the cease-fire will depend on what happens in Lebanon,” Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Al Jazeera has reported that the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said Israeli soldiers remain “deployed in its positions inside southern Lebanon” despite the ceasefire coming into effect.
The Lebanese Cabinet, that includes members of Hezbollah’s political wing, will reportedly meet today (November 27) to formally approve the deal.
The US and France have pledged to work with Israel and Lebanon to ensure that the deal is fully implemented.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has said the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, will also help implement the agreement.
Biden also said the US will make another push “in coming days” to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
