On Tuesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a possible ceasefire arrangement with Lebanon.
The truce will be temporary, and Israel reserves the right to conduct military operations against Hezbollah in case terrorist buildup resumes along the country’s northern border, the Israeli prime minister said in a televised address.
“The duration of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said. “If Hezbollah tries to attack us, if it arms itself and rebuilds infrastructure near the border, we will attack.”
The ceasefire, yet to be approved by Israel’s security cabinet, will be formally announced on Tuesday night local time and will come into effect Wednesday morning. “Presidents Biden and Macron will announce the deal during the night, with the alleged agreement set to take effect at 10 a.m. tomorrow,” the Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday.
The British daily Telegraph reported:
Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon after weeks of negotiations with the US and other Western allies.Israel’s prime minister confirmed he would present the deal to his cabinet in a televised address on Tuesday. The deal could come into force as early as Wednesday.During the speech, Mr Netanyahu said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had set Hezbollah back decades.He said: “Hezbollah is no longer the same. We set them back decades. We have destroyed many missiles and rockets, we have killed many terrorists.”The US-led proposal involves the terror group leaving southern Lebanon and Israel withdrawing its forces from the country.
The ceasefire announcement comes exactly eight weeks after Israel launched a ground operation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. On October 8, 2023, the Iran-backed terrorist group opened a second front in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 massacre. Nearly 60,000 residents of northern Israel were forced to evacuate their homes amid relentless cross-border rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) successfully eliminated Hezbollah’s entire terrorist leadership, including its chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israel ground troops continue to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and target Hezbollah’s fighting force in southern Lebanon.
Ahead of the anticipated ceasefire, Israeli armed forces carried out a series of airstrikes on Hezbollah terror targets in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. “Waves of Israeli strikes pounded Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold on Tuesday in the most intense raids on the Lebanese capital in two months of full-scale war with Israel,” the France24 TV channel reported.
“The IAF (Israeli Air Force) has completed a series of intelligence-based strikes on 20 terror targets in the area of Beirut,” the Israeli military said in a statement Tuesday morning.
“These strikes included 13 terror targets in the Dahieh area, a key Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut. Among the targets struck were a Hezbollah aerial defense unit center, an intelligence center, command centers, weapons storage facilities, an operations room, an artillery storage facility, and terrorist infrastructure sites,” the Israeli military added.
The IDF also destroyed Hezbollah rocket launchers in Southern Lebanon. On Tuesday, “the IAF struck approximately 20 launchers, including the launchers used to fire toward the Haifa Bay and Western Galilee areas earlier today,” the military said.
The Air Force also “struck Hezbollah terror targets in the areas of Naqoura and Yater in southern Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and command centers,” the military said.
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