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Israeli military says it remains deployed in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire
Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, warned Lebanese civilians against returning home despite a ceasefire coming into effect, saying that Israeli authorities “will inform you of the safe date to return”.
In a post on X, Adraee has also said the Israeli military “remains deployed in its positions inside southern Lebanon”.
They have 60 days to withdraw, just like Hezbollah has 60 days to move north of the Litani River.
US envoy Hochstein says ‘there’s a lot to do in 60 days’
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, US envoy Amos Hochstein has provided more detail about the ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel.
- “This ceasefire is a permanent ceasefire. It’s not for 60 days. It is a permanent ceasefire that starts at 4am local Beirut time.”
- “At that point, all firing will stop. All rockets, [drones], Air Force, shelling, bombardments, everything stops.”
- “The Israeli military that is on the ground in the first two to three kilometres from the border will remain in place for now. As the Lebanese army will redeploy back down to the south, the Israeli forces will leave.”
- The first Israeli forces “will leave over the next several days, or first couple of weeks, and gradually, over 60 days, they will all depart.”
- “But there is a lot to do in these 60 days. The Lebanese army cannot deploy that many forces that quickly all across the south when they haven’t been there in such a long time.”
- This agreement was agreed to by both parties “to have certain parts that start immediately, which is the ceasefire, and certain parts that will be gradual to make sure that this is done in an effective way”.
- “What we don’t want is a repeat of 2006 when the war ended and there was no implementation of the deal, which brought us to the war that we had this year, and such tragic loss of life on all sides.”
As details of truce remain obscure, the enormous cost of this war is clear
The Israeli army has devastated entire areas of southern Lebanon and caused widespread destruction across the country. Some estimates put the cost of recovery at nearly $10bn.
In northern Israel, some communities have also been badly damaged. Local authorities say they will need hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild.
Israel and Hezbollah are claiming victory, even though they’re both bruised.
Netanyahu has promised to change the political and security landscape in the region. Hezbollah dropped its pledge to tie a ceasefire in Lebanon with Gaza. A ceasefire there can’t come soon enough.
