Israel and Hezbollah will officially commence a ceasefire early Wednesday morning ending more than a year of hostilities with a negotiated deal meant to rectify the mistakes made after their last conflict.
President Joe Biden announced that the ceasefire will begin at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, which will mark the first day of the 60-day agreement.
Israeli forces will not depart southern Lebanon immediately, rather they will leave in a “phased withdrawal,” once they are replaced by the Lebanese Armed Forces to avoid leaving a power vacuum that Hezbollah could exploit, according to a senior Biden administration official.
All of the Israeli forces will leave Lebanon by the end of the 60-day period, some before the deadline.
“A 60-day period will start in which the Lebanese military and security forces will begin their deployment towards the south,” the official explained. “This is a process that cannot happen overnight or in several days, and therefore there is this period to prevent any vacuums from being formed, as the Lebanese military deploys and reaches the south.”
Biden said the agreement is meant to be a “permanent” ceasefire, as the administration tries to ensure the end to the cycle of violence between Israel and Hezbollah. The two last went to war in 2006, and the month-long conflict ended with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.
The resolution called for Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon, like this time, and it called for Hezbollah to move north of the Litani River, which runs parallel to the Israel-Lebanon border, and if the U.S.-designated terrorist group adhered to the agreement, would’ve created a nearly 20-mile buffer zone between them and Israel.
The current deal calls for Hezbollah to finally move north of the Litani River, nearly two decades after the resolution passed.
“There is an agreed upon map that is roughly north of the Litani line, although it deviates some and goes further north than the Litani in certain areas,” the official added.
After the conflict ended in 2006, Israel withdrew, but Hezbollah did not. The U.S., which had France’s help in negotiating the deal, is trying to change that this time around.
The U.S. and France are also joining an existing tripartite mechanism with Israel, Lebanon, and UNIFIL (the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) that will hear any claims from either side about a possible violation of the agreement. The U.S. will be the chair of the group, which the official said means “that the United States, both through diplomats and military personnel, are going to be receiving any complaints by either side of any potential violations.”
Israel and Lebanon do “retain the right of self-defense in accordance with international law,” if either side were to violate the agreement, the official added.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “If Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to arm itself, we will attack. If it tries to rebuild terrorist infrastructure near the border, we will attack. If it launches a rocket, if it digs a tunnel, if it brings in a truck carrying rockets, we will attack.”
Biden said no U.S. troops would be deployed to southern Lebanon.