At 9:00 PM EST/4:00 AM Beirut time, the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire officially took effect, potentially ending an ongoing Israeli invasion and repeated airstrikes which have killed thousands and displaced well over a million Lebanese civilians.
The deal was brokered by the US, and the Israeli security cabinet voted earlier today to support it. The deal proscribes a 60-day ceasefire in which Hezbollah is to move its armed assets north of the Litani River, and the Lebanese government is supposed to deploy its army into the southern area of the country as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel, for their part, is intended to withdraw their ground troops from southern Lebanon, and to stop attacking Lebanese territory. If Israel sees “suspicious movements,” US officials say they are to report it to a US-led committee, which would forward the complain to the Lebanese military. It is only after that point that they would be free to respond if Lebanon doesn’t take action.
The immediate question must be how the ceasefire will be implemented, and when the Israeli troops will actually leave. Israeli military Avichay Adraee issued a statement after the ceasefire went into effect warning Lebanese civilians against attempting to return to their homes in the evacuation zones, saying the prohibition is still in effect. He said Israel would inform them at a later date when it is safe to return.
That doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, and the seeming escalation of Israeli attacks in the last few hours before it came into effect added to concerns. In those final hours, Israel carried out multiple attacks on the north Lebanon border crossings into Syria, and imposed new evacuation orders in multiple southern suburbs of Beirut.
The attacks on the border crossings are noteworthy, because during the war Israel has repeatedly attacked the main crossings through eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley leading into Qusayr. That makes some sense, as the Bekaa Valley is a known Hezbollah haven. The north crossings, on the other hand, lead into Syria’s coastal Tartus Province. Syrian state media reported a number of people were wounded in these attacks.
The attacks on southern Beirut seem to be the last thing Israel did before the ceasefire went into attack. Israel issued evacuation orders on southern and central Beirut just two hours before the 9:00 PM ceasefire, and attacks began less than an hour before that deadline.
