BEIRUT (AP) — A fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has held up for over a month, even as its terms seem unlikely to be met by the agreed-upon deadline.
The deal struck on Nov. 27 to halt the war required Hezbollah to immediately lay down its arms in southern Lebanon and gave Israel 60 days to withdraw its forces there and hand over control to the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers.
Click to Gallery
FILE - Israeli security forces and residents examine a house that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kibbutz Saar, northern Israel, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner, File)
FILE - UNIFIL peacekeepers secure the area in Khardali, southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
FILE - Municipality workers pass by debris of damaged buildings that were hit by an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday evening in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
FILE - A couple walks to an Israeli army position near the Lebanese border on Dec. 5, 2024, in northern Israel. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
FILE - Georges Elia decorates a Christmas tree inside St. George Melkite Catholic Church, which was destroyed by Israeli airstrike, in the town of Dardghaya in southern Lebanon, on Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
FILE - Rafi Shitrit speaks with soldiers patrolling the area in front of his house in the agricultural settlement of Avivim, next to the Lebanese border in upper Galilee, Israel, on Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)
FILE - Displaced residents return to Dahiyeh, in Beirut, Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah on Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - An Israeli couple can see buildings in southern Lebanon that were damaged during the war from an overlook in northern Israel, on Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
FILE - A fisherman prepares his nets at the port in Tyre, southern Lebanon on Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
FILE - Ali Haidous, removes the debris from his destroyed butcher shop after he returned with his family to his village of Hanouiyeh, southern Lebanon, on Nov. 28, 2024, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
FILE - Lebanese families sit in traffic as they return to Lebanon through the Jousieh border crossing, in Qusair, Syria, on Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
FILE - A boy holds a Hezbollah flag following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah on Nov. 28, 2024, in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon. (AP Photo/Bassam Hatoum, File)
FILE - A family arrives to cross into Lebanon through the Jousieh border crossing, between Syria and Lebanon, Nov. 28, 2024, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
FILE - An Israeli soldier gestures from his vehicle in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, on Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
FILE - Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, center, meets with the committee monitoring the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire, at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, on Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - Mariam Kourani removes a toy car from the rubble of her destroyed house after returning with her family to the Hanouiyeh village in southern Lebanon, on Nov. 28, 2024, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
So far, Israel has withdrawn from just two of the dozens of towns it holds in southern Lebanon. And it has continued striking what it says are bases belonging to Hezbollah, which it accuses of attempting to launch rockets and move weapons before they can be confiscated and destroyed.
Hezbollah, which was severely diminished during nearly 14 months of war, has threatened to resume fighting if Israel does not fully withdraw its forces by the 60-day deadline.
Yet despite accusations from both sides about hundreds of ceasefire violations, the truce is likely to hold, analysts say. That is good news for thousands of Israeli and Lebanese families displaced by the war still waiting to return home.
“The ceasefire agreement is rather opaque and open to interpretation,” said Firas Maksad, a senior fellow with the Middle East Institute in Washington. That flexibility, he said, may give it a better chance of holding in the face of changing circumstances, including the ouster of Syria's longtime leader, Bashar Assad, just days after the ceasefire took effect.
With Assad gone, Hezbollah lost a vital route for smuggling weapons from Iran. While that further weakened Hezbollah’s hand, Israel had already agreed to the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023 — the day after Hamas launched a deadly attack into Israel that ignited the ongoing war in Gaza. Since then, Israeli air and ground assaults have killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians. At the height of the war, more than 1 million Lebanese people were displaced.
Hezbollah rockets forced some 60,000 from their homes in northern Israel, and killed 76 people in Israel, including 31 soldiers. Almost 50 Israeli soldiers were killed during operations inside Lebanon.
Here’s a look at the terms of the ceasefire and its prospects for ending hostilities over the long-term.
The agreement says that both Hezbollah and Israel will halt “offensive” military actions, but that they can act in self-defense, although it is not entirely clear how that term may be interpreted.
The Lebanese army is tasked with preventing Hezbollah and other militant groups from launching attacks into Israel. It is also required to dismantle Hezbollah facilities and weapons in southern Lebanon — activities that might eventually be expanded to the rest of Lebanon, although it is not explicit in the ceasefire agreement.
The United States, France, Israel, Lebanon and the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, are responsible for overseeing implementation of the agreement.
“The key question is not whether the deal will hold, but what version of it will be implemented,” Maksad, the analyst, said.
Hezbollah has for the most part halted its rocket and drone fire into Israel, and Israel has stopped attacking Hezbollah in most areas of Lebanon. But Israel has launched regular airstrikes on what it says are militant sites in southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa Valley.
Israeli forces have so far withdrawn from two towns in southern Lebanon - Khiam and Shamaa. They remain in some 60 others, according to the International Organization for Migration, and around 160,000 Lebanese remain displaced.
Lebanon has accused Israel of repeatedly violating the ceasefire agreement and last week submitted a complaint to the U.N. Security Council that says Israel launched some 816 “ground and air attacks” between the start of the ceasefire and Dec. 22, 2024.
The complaint said the attacks have hindered the Lebanese army's efforts to deploy in the south and uphold its end of the ceasefire agreement.
Israel says Hezbollah has violated the ceasefire hundreds of times and has also complained to the Security Council. It accused Hezbollah militants of moving ammunition, attempting to attack Israeli soldiers, and preparing and launching rockets towards northern Israel, among other things.
Until it hands over control of more towns to the Lebanese army, Israeli troops have been destroying Hezbollah infrastructure, including weapons warehouses and underground tunnels. Lebanese authorities say Israel has also destroyed civilian houses and infrastructure.
Israel's withdrawal from Lebanese towns has been slower than anticipated because of a lack of Lebanese army troops ready to take over, according to Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, a military spokesman. Lebanon disputes this, and says it is waiting for Israel to withdraw before entering the towns.
Shoshani said Israel is satisfied with the Lebanese army's control of the areas it has already withdrawn from, and that while it would prefer a faster transfer of power, security is its most important objective.
Israel does not consider the 60-day timetable for withdrawal to be “sacred,” said Harel Chorev, an expert on Israel-Lebanon relations at Tel Aviv University who estimates that Lebanon will need to recruit and deploy thousands more troops before Israel will be ready to hand over control.
Hezbollah officials have said that if Israeli forces remain in Lebanon 60 days past the start of the ceasefire, the militant group might return to attacking them. But Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Kassem said Wednesday that, for now, the group is holding off to give the Lebanese state a chance to "take responsibility” for enforcing the agreement.
In a speech Saturday, he took a more threatening tone.
“Our patience may run out before or after the 60 days," he said. "When we decide to do something you will see it directly."
Over the final two months of the war, Hezbollah suffered major blows to its leadership, weapons and forces from a barrage of Israeli airstrikes, and a ground invasion that led to fierce battles in southern Lebanon. The fall of Assad was another big setback.
“The power imbalance suggests Israel may want to ensure greater freedom of action after the 60-day period,” Maksad, the analyst, said. And Hezbollah, in its weakened position, now has a “strong interest” in making sure the deal doesn't fall apart altogether “despite Israeli violations,” he said.
While Hezbollah may not be in a position to return to open war with Israel, it or other groups could mount guerilla attacks using light weaponry if Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon, said former Lebanese army Gen. Hassan Jouni. And even if Israel does withdraw all of its ground forces, Jouni said, the Israeli military could could continue to carry out sporadic airstrikes in Lebanon, much as it has done in Syria for years.
——
This story has been updated to correct the year to 2024, not 2023, in the paragraph on alleged violations of the ceasefire.
FILE - Israeli security forces and residents examine a house that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kibbutz Saar, northern Israel, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner, File)
FILE - UNIFIL peacekeepers secure the area in Khardali, southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
FILE - Municipality workers pass by debris of damaged buildings that were hit by an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday evening in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
FILE - A couple walks to an Israeli army position near the Lebanese border on Dec. 5, 2024, in northern Israel. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
FILE - Georges Elia decorates a Christmas tree inside St. George Melkite Catholic Church, which was destroyed by Israeli airstrike, in the town of Dardghaya in southern Lebanon, on Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
FILE - Rafi Shitrit speaks with soldiers patrolling the area in front of his house in the agricultural settlement of Avivim, next to the Lebanese border in upper Galilee, Israel, on Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)
FILE - Displaced residents return to Dahiyeh, in Beirut, Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah on Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - An Israeli couple can see buildings in southern Lebanon that were damaged during the war from an overlook in northern Israel, on Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
FILE - A fisherman prepares his nets at the port in Tyre, southern Lebanon on Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
FILE - Ali Haidous, removes the debris from his destroyed butcher shop after he returned with his family to his village of Hanouiyeh, southern Lebanon, on Nov. 28, 2024, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
FILE - Lebanese families sit in traffic as they return to Lebanon through the Jousieh border crossing, in Qusair, Syria, on Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
FILE - A boy holds a Hezbollah flag following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah on Nov. 28, 2024, in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon. (AP Photo/Bassam Hatoum, File)
FILE - A family arrives to cross into Lebanon through the Jousieh border crossing, between Syria and Lebanon, Nov. 28, 2024, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
FILE - An Israeli soldier gestures from his vehicle in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, on Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
FILE - Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, center, meets with the committee monitoring the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire, at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, on Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - Mariam Kourani removes a toy car from the rubble of her destroyed house after returning with her family to the Hanouiyeh village in southern Lebanon, on Nov. 28, 2024, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
