A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon came into effect at 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
Upon the start of the agreement, large numbers of displaced people began returning to the southern suburbs of Beirut, as well as to villages and towns in the south and the Bekaa Valley.
For its part, the spokesperson for the Israeli army announced that with the agreement now in effect, the “army” remains deployed at its positions in southern Lebanon, noting that residents of the areas where the military had previously requested evacuations were not heading back to those villages.
Hours before the agreement went into effect, the Israeli army intensified its attacks, targeting several areas in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, including Sidon, Baalbek, and southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced that it had fired rockets at areas in northern occupied Palestine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that the Israeli Security Cabinet had approved the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden announced evening that both Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the ceasefire after what he described as the “deadliest” conflict between the two sides, adding that “lasting peace cannot be achieved on the battlefield.”
Biden further stated that the agreement “supports Lebanon’s sovereignty and marks a new beginning for it,” claiming that his administration would engage in new efforts with Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey to broker a ceasefire in Gaza
