Lebanon Ceasefire update: November 26 2024
Israel and Hezbollah agree to end their conflict, at least for a little while.
While I am technically on vacation I did want to send a brief update on the ceasefire that Joe Biden announced earlier today between Israel and Hezbollah. Momentum had been building toward this for several days now, despite outward appearances as the Israelis maintained and arguably intensified their bombing campaign. Indeed, they continued bombarding Lebanon throughout the day on Tuesday, while Hezbollah kept up its rocket attacks on Israel, everybody getting in a few last licks before the ceasefire goes into effect at 4 AM Wednesday local time. If all goes well this will mark the end of a conflict that started shortly after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack in southern Israel, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel. That conflict has killed nearly 3800 people in Lebanon and nearly 130 in Israel, while displacing upwards of 1.2 million in Lebanon and some 46,000 in Israel.
The deal in its most basic form opens a 60 day window, during which Hezbollah and Israel will attempt to implement the terms of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Lebanon War. That means Hezbollah will withdraw its military forces, or at least its large weapons that are capable of striking Israel, north of the Litani River or about 30-ish (give or take) kilometers from the Israeli border. The Israelis in turn will withdraw from southern Lebanon. If those two conditions are met then the 60 day window will turn into a full-fledged ceasefire—at least until the next time Israel and Hezbollah go to war. Israel’s security cabinet approved the deal on Tuesday prior to Biden’s announcement. The Lebanese government had already signaled its approval, which came along with Hezbollah’s indirect approval.
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