Israel fired after the truce with Hezbollah
The Israeli-Lebanese Interaction in Gaza After the U.S.– and–France Breakred ‘Second Order’
Scott Neuman reported from Tel Aviv. Lauren Frayer contributed reporting from Beirut; Kat Lonsdorf and Daniel Estrin contributed from Tel Aviv.
This peace must now be ensured by urgent work. Children and families need to be able to return to their homes safely, especially those who have been displaced in shelters.
In a statement on the ceasefire, UNICEF said it hopes the agreement “will bring an end to the war which has killed more than 240 children, injured around 1,400, and upended the lives of countless others.”
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
On the Lebanon side of the border, Israel has torn down entire villages near the ‘Blue Line’ border, so many of the country’s displaced may not be able to return to their homes for months. The Blue Line was created in 2000, when Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon.
After the U.S.- and-France brokered deal was announced in Paris, Iran — which has long been the primary backer of both Hezbollah and Hamas militants in Gaza — said it welcomed the news to end “aggression against Lebanon.” Tehran’s support for the Lebanese government, nation and resistance was emphasized by the Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
In a joint statement, President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron said the deal “will cease the fighting in Lebanon, and secure Israel from the threat of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations operating from Lebanon.” They said it “will create the conditions to restore lasting calm and allow residents in both countries to return safely to their homes” along the border.
To ensure security in the area, the deal calls for thousands of Lebanese government soldiers to deploy to the south, along with U.N. peacekeeping forces known as UNIFIL, according to a copy of the deal seen by NPR. The U.S. will lead an international panel that monitors for violations of the agreement.
Jordan and Egypt made statements saying Israel’s attack on Gaza should stop. The Lebanon ceasefire is an important step, according to Jordan.
“The stated intent is that at the smallest infraction, they will go through the motions of reporting this to the [U.S.-led international] supervisory committee and [if] Israel doesn’t get satisfaction, they will take action on their own,” he says.
“This is going to be about the enforcement,” says Lipner, who is a Middle East expert at the Atlantic Council. “That’s a signal that there won’t be any exceptions as in the past.”
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Underlining the potential fragility of the truce, the Israeli military says it fired toward suspects in a prohibited zone just hours into the ceasefire, and the suspects left. Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said they were Hezbollah operatives in a border village.
There is a good deal that came about because of the international pressure. And we have somewhere to return to,” he said. Alluding to the devastation that Israel has inflicted on southern Lebanon, he added: “The Lebanese have nowhere to return to.”
Orna Peretz, an Israeli displaced from Kiryat Shmona, a town less than a mile from the Israel-Lebanon border, told NPR he thinks Hezbollah — founded during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war — has been taught a lesson “it never endured in its entire lifetime.”
For now, Israel is discouraging its residents from returning to their abandoned homes in the border area. Education Minister Yoav Kisch said on Israel Army Radio there will be a 30- to 60-day period of renovating buildings and institutions damaged by Hezbollah fire before Israel initiates a return of Israeli residents.
In southern Lebanon, Patricia Taleb, 24, was driving Wednesday to reach the home she was forced to abandon earlier. “We know that this is the end days of the war. She told NPR that they know it’s going to be okay.
A military official in Lebanon said that the troops would move to the south when Israeli troops leave. The official wasn’t authorized to brief the media.
Israel also stepped up airstrikes across Lebanon in recent months, which damaged homes and infrastructure, and killed top Hezbollah officials — including longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah, its senior commander in the south, Mohammed Nasser, and rocket and missile commander Ibrahim Qubaisi.
The start of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was celebrated with gunfire in the capital of the country.
At least two people were wounded by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon on Thursday, according to state media. The Israeli military said it fired at people trying to return to certain areas during the second day of the ceasefire.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of Hezbollah bombardments from the Lebanon side.
Some of the homes in Menara have had their roofs torn off and their interiors burned. In Menara there is a community on the border with Lebanon. Some residents went to gather their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
Israel and Hezbollah have agreed on a ceasefire to end a month-long war between the two countries, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron said. The deal “will stop fighting in Lebanon, and secure Israel from threat of Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations operating from Lebanon,” they added. Over 70 people were killed in the fighting between the two countries.