Israel-Lebanon ceasefire explained: What is deal struck between Hezbollah and Israel – and will it hold?

In the early hours of Wednesday morning a breakthrough ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect after 13 months of almost daily fire exchanged across the Israeli-Lebanon border and weeks of a intense ground and airstrike operation.

While residents of Beirut and southern Lebanon celebrated, returning to their neighbourhoods in droves hours after intense Israeli bombardments – despite warnings from the Israeli military to stay clear – the mood was different in Israel, with some northern communities fearful of going home and believing the deal didn’t go far enough.

The Lebanese health ministry says nearly 3,800 people have been killed in Lebanon since fighting erupted in the wake of Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas – an ally of Hezbollah, which is also backed by Iran – in Gaza. The vast majority of deaths have come in the wake of the intensified bombing and ground campaign that began in September. At least 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed in northern Israel, in the Golan Heights, and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.

International pressure is on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, to maintain the peace.

Under the terms of the agreement, Israel will gradually withdraw its forces from Lebanon over a period of 60 days, with the Lebanese army then set to control territory near its border to ensure Hezbollah does not rebuild its infrastructure there.

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Thousands of Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers are to deploy to the region south of the Litani River. Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday the Lebanese army was ready to deploy 5,000 troops into the region as Israeli forces withdraw.

The US is expected to lead a five-country monitoring committee to enforce the truce, which US president Joe Biden said was designed to be permanent.

Mr Biden and French president Emmanuel Macron issued a joint statement in which they said France and the United States would both work to ensure that the ceasefire was fully implemented.

Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations, but Lebanese officials rejected writing that into the proposal.

Still, Mr Netanyahu said Tuesday that the military would strike Hezbollah if the UN peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, did not enforce the deal.

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Israel's military said on Wednesday its forces were still on Lebanese territory and urged residents of southern Lebanese villages who had been ordered to evacuate in recent months to delay returning home until further notice from the Israeli military. Israeli troops have pushed around four miles (six kilometres) into Lebanon in a series of ground assaults.

Israel said it identified Hezbollah operatives returning to areas near the border and had opened fire to prevent them from coming closer. There were no immediate signs that the incident would undermine the ceasefire.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said he instructed the military to "act firmly and without compromise" should it happen again.

Hezbollah has indicated it will give the pact a chance, but one of the group’s leaders told Al Jazeera the group’s support for the deal hinged on certainty that Israel would not renew its attacks.

“After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, said.

“We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state [of Lebanon]”.

Rana Sahili, a media spokesperson for Hezbollah, told the Independent that the militant group does “not trust the Israelis”.

“The countries that support [the Israelis] must provide guarantees,” Ms Sahili added.

The landing of an agreement between Israel and Hezbollah without a similar deal with Hamas in Gaza has left Palestinians feeling abandoned and fearful that Israel would now turn its focus squarely on the territory, with Mr Netanyahu said Israel would now concentrate on Hamas militants in Gaza along with his top security concern, Iran.

Both the war inside Gaza and the Hezbollah-Isaraeli cross-border fire was triggered in 7 October last year, when Hamas launched a terror attack inside Israel. They killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 hostages into Gaza.

In response, Israel launched a devastating air and ground offensive against Hamas, and Mr Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting until all hostages are freed. Some 100 remain, although about a third of those are believed to be dead. More than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in the largely devastated Gaza, according to local health officials, while around 90 per cent of the population of around 2.3 million have been forced from their homes.

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Mr Biden said the US would now “make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others, to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza with a hostage release”.

British prime minister Keir Starmer backed up his US counterpart in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as well as “the removal of restrictions on desperately needed humanitarian aid.”