WASHINGTON: The Lebanese and Israeli governments have agreed to a US proposal to end “the devastating conflict” between Israel and the Hezbollah group, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday.
The agreement is slated to go into effect Wednesday at 4 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) and will see the Lebanese Armed Forces “deploy and take control of” southern Lebanon over the course of the next 60 days, during which time, “Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces,” the president said in televised remarks.
Biden said the US alongside France and other allies have “pledged to work with Israel and Lebanon to ensure that this arrangement is fully implemented.”
He maintained that while there will be no US troops on the ground in southern Lebanon, “we, along with France and others, will provide the necessary assistance to make sure this deal is implemented fully and effectively.”
At least 55 people were killed Monday in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, bringing the death toll since October 2023 to 3,823, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Tuesday. A total of 160 others were wounded over the past 24 hours, raising the number of injuries to 15,859.
In recent hours, Israeli airstrikes on the Lebanese capital Beirut and its southern suburbs, as well as the southern and eastern provinces of the country, have intensified, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.
“This has been the deadliest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in decades. How many of Hezbollah’s senior leaders are dead, including its longtime leader, Nasrallah?” he said, referring to Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on southern Beirut in September.
“Lasting security for the people of Israel and Lebanon cannot be achieved only on the battlefield, and that’s why I directed my team to work with the governments of Israel and Lebanon to forge a cease-fire, to bring the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to a close,” he added.
Hezbollah began a series of ballistic missile, rocket and drone attacks on Israel shortly after the Palestinian group Hamas launched its Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack on Israel. The Lebanese group says its attacks are meant to demonstrate solidarity with Hamas and the people of Gaza and pressure Israel for a cease-fire in the besieged coastal enclave.
Israel retaliated with massive airstrikes across the small Mediterranean country against what it said are Hezbollah targets. In October, it expanded its offensive to include a ground invasion of Lebanon.
Biden said that “over the coming days” the US alongside Türkiye, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and other countries “will make another push” for a cease-fire in Gaza that will end the Israeli offensive there and lead to the release of the over 100 hostages who remain there.
He added that Washington “remains prepared to conclude a set of” what he called “historic deals with Saudi Arabia” which include a security pact and economic assurances “together with a credible pathway for establishing a Palestinian state and the full normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a desire they both have.”
A senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said that under the terms of the agreement, both Lebanon and Israel “retain the right of self-defense in accordance with international law.”
“Just as I hope that Hezbollah will not violate this agreement, I also hope Israel doesn’t violate this agreement, and if they do, I expect the Lebanese army and the Lebanese security forces to work with this mechanism to address it directly with the Israelis on an immediate basis, whether it’s incursions into their territory or anything else that they do that they had agreed not to do so,” he said.
“We are seeking to have a violation-free implementation. And if violations do occur, we are expecting that they are addressed effectively, efficiently and on a timely manner,” he added.
