Israel agrees to Hezbollah ceasefire to stop war in Lebanon : NPR

A first responder looks for survivors at the scene of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in a southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday.

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Israel has agreed to a ceasefire to stop the war it has been fighting with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon for more than a year.

“The Security Cabinet approved the United States’ proposal for a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon this evening, with a majority of 10 ministers in favor and one opposed,” the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement late Tuesday.

The deal comes during some of the heaviest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in months, with Israeli airstrikes hitting Beirut and Israeli troops pushing deeper into southern Lebanon on Tuesday, as Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel.

Before the Cabinet vote, Netanyahu laid out his reasons for supporting the ceasefire, including saying that Israel has dismantled much of Hezbollah’s fighting capabilities and killed many senior officials. He also warned that Israel retains the right to attack Hezbollah again.

“In full coordination with the United States, we are maintaining full military freedom of action,” Netanyahu said in his TV address. “If Hezbollah violates the agreement or attempts to rearm, we will strike.”

Hezbollah is a Shia Muslim militant and political force in Lebanon backed by Iran and listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Israel and several other countries. The Lebanese militant group started launching rockets into Israel a day after the Palestinian militant group Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel has launched extensive airstrikes across Lebanon, including one in September that killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah. Israel also sent ground troops into southern Lebanon, saying it was fighting to push Hezbollah militants back from its border so that thousands of evacuated residents who fled the group’s rockets in northern Israel could return safely.

A little over a year of the Israeli military campaign in Lebanon has killed more than 3,700 people, many of them civilians, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, and close to 1 million people have been displaced across Lebanon, according to the United Nations.

In northern Israel, about 80 people, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in the fighting and about 60,000 residents have evacuated since October 2023, according to the Israeli government.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the ceasefire, thanking the United States and France for helping facilitate the deal.

“This understanding, which outlined a roadmap for the cessation of hostilities, was reviewed by me this evening, and I consider it a key step towards establishing calm and stability in Lebanon and enabling the return of displaced people to their homes and towns,” Mikati said. “It also contributes to promoting regional stability.”

But concerns in Israel and Lebanon remain about how long a ceasefire can hold and whether civilians can be kept safe.

“This agreement is not good because it does not require the Lebanese army and government to disarm Hezbollah,” Avigdor Lieberman, an opponent of Netanyahu who is a lawmaker in Israeli parliament, said Monday.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

Willem Marx reported from London. Daniel Estrin contributed reporting from Jerusalem and Jawad Rizkallah contributed from Beirut.