Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he agreed to a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah on Tuesday.
Israel and Hezbollah have been locked in conflict since October 2023, and hostilities between the two have only risen in recent months. Netanyahu announced on Tuesday he would press his security cabinet to agree to the current ceasefire deal on the table, noting that Israel’s priorities in the ongoing Middle East conflict have shifted.
“I have said many times that a good agreement is an agreement that can be enforced, and we will enforce it,” Netanyahu said in an address.
If the deal is fully agreed to on Wednesday, a full-scale ceasefire will go into effect immediately. Israel will have 60 days to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, which will give Lebanese forces time to return to the region, according to reports. Hezbollah is expected to pull its forces back from the Israel-Lebanon border as part of the deal.
The sustainability of the deal hinges on Hezbollah’s actions, Netanyahu noted.
“The length of the ceasefire will depend on what happens in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in his address. “With the full understanding of the United States, we are preserving full military freedom of action — if Hezbollah breaks the agreement and seeks to arm itself, we will attack.”
There were three reasons that Israel was ready to accept a ceasefire deal at this point in time, Netanyahu said. One, to give the Israeli forces time to recuperate; two, to isolate Hamas from Hezbollah; and three, to allow Israel to focus on the threat from Iran.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah marks a significant de-escalation of conflict in the Middle East. Hezbollah began attacking Israel following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against Israel, which ended in the killing of roughly 1,200 people. Israel has since been engaged in a war with Hamas and cross-border skirmishes with Hezbollah, which have only grown more turbulent in recent months.
Despite the near ending of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, regional tensions remain high. Israel and Hamas have yet to agree to a ceasefire deal, even after multiple rounds of negotiations mediated by the U.S. and other Arab partners. Gaza has been caught in the crossfire of the war and, as a result, has been decimated, leaving the Palestinians living there in dire conditions.
Israel and Iran have also directly engaged with each other in recent months, with both sides firing drones and missiles into the other’s territory. Israel’s latest round of strikes against Iran in October seemed to deter Tehran from attacking any further for the time being.
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