Israel secures ceasefire with Hezbollah as Netanyahu hails setting terror group back ‘decades’
Israel’s and Lebanon have agreed to a France-US-proposed ceasefire deal with terror group Hezbollah, Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron have said.
Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed he would be putting the deal to his cabinet earlier on Tuesday afternoon – bringing an end to weeks of speculation and discussions in the process.
The deal aims to secure a 60-day halt to hostilities between the Iran-backed militia group, according to a CNN report on Tuesday evening.
Later on Tuesday, US President Biden and French counterpart Macron said the deal will create the conditions needed for a return to calm.
The agreement looks to put UN Security Council Resolution 1701 into place – the same resolution which secured the end of the war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006.
That deal held firm until October 7 last year – when Hezbollah fighters attacked the Jewish state as Hamas terrorists committed a litany of atrocities at a music festival.
The deal will come into force from 2am GMT on Wednesday – with Joe Biden declaring that civilians will be able to return to their lives “soon”.
But Biden echoed Netanyahu’s comments earlier today – the US President said that if Hezbollah broke the terms of the agreement, Israel held the right to defend itself in accordance with international law.
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The Israeli PM said earlier his country would respond forcefully to any violation by Hezbollah, declaring Israel would retain “complete military freedom of action”.
But he also hailed how his forces had set the terror group back “decades” after months of brutal strikes across Lebanon.
“We have set it back decades, eliminated… its top leaders, destroyed most of its rockets and missiles, neutralised thousands of fighters, and obliterated years of terror infrastructure near our border,” he said.
“We targeted strategic objectives across Lebanon, shaking Beirut to its core.”
It came after this morning’s address in which Netanyahu hailed Israel’s list of achievements in the region – and made several warnings and promises for the future to boot.
His forces are “determined to do everything necessary in order to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon,” the PM added.
Meanwhile in Palestine, Netanyahu vowed to complete the elimination of Hamas and return their Israeli hostages home.
He said Israel had killed some 20,000 terrorists in Gaza.