Thousands of people returned to southern Lebanon as a ceasefire took effect requiring both Israel and Hezbollah to withdraw from there.
With the U.S.-backed cease-fire deal between Israel and Hezbollah going into effect on Wednesday, Lebanon's army prepared to deploy to the region in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL.
Their aim is to enforce the 18-year-old United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which experts view as a roadmap and the best hope for ending the war.
"This agreement marks the starting point of a critical process, anchored in the full implementation of resolution 1701 (2006), to restore the safety and security that civilians on both sides of the Blue Line deserve," the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in welcoming the ceasefire announcement.
"Considerable work lies ahead to ensure that the agreement endures. Nothing less than the full and unwavering commitment of both parties is required," she said.
Deadliest conflict in decades
U.S. President Joe Biden announced the 60-day ceasefire deal, which, like Resolution 1701, is meant to bring about a "permanent cessation of hostilities."
Biden said after speaking with the prime ministers of Israel and Lebanon that their governments had accepted the U.S. proposal to end the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and more than a year of cross-border fighting.
"All told, this has been the deadliest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in decades," he said. "We’re determined this conflict will not be just another cycle of violence. And so, the United States, with the full support of France and our other allies, has pledged to work with Israel and Lebanon to ensure that this arrangement is fully implemented."
The U.N. Security Council Resolution adopted in 2006 was crafted to ensure Israel completed its withdrawal from southern Lebanon, and that Hezbollah stay north of the Blue Line and Litani River along the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
Israel had withdrawn its forces from most of southern Lebanon according to the U.N.'s so-called Blue Line separating the two countries and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights in Syria's southwest corner.
The Security Council created UNIFIL in 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security and help Lebanon restore its authority in the area. After 2006, UNIFIL was given the additional job of monitoring the cessation of fighting.
Lebanon and Israel have long traded blame for violating the terms of the resolution. The Lebanese army, however, was not part of the Israel-Hezbollah war. Negotiators for the U.S. and France worked to broker the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Under the ceasefire deal, a U.S.-led international monitoring committee would help ensure that Israel and Hezbollah withdraw as agreed.
