Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire appears to hold as Lebanese begin streaming south to their homes
Fighting sparked by ongoing war between Israel, Hamas in Gaza
A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah appeared to be holding Wednesday, as residents in cars heaped with belongings streamed back toward southern Lebanon despite warnings from the Israeli and Lebanese military that they stay away from certain areas.
If it holds, the ceasefire would bring an end to nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated in mid-September into all-out war and threatened to pull Hezbollah's patron Iran and Israel into a broader conflagration. It could give some reprieve to the 1.2 million Lebanese displaced by the fighting and the tens of thousands of Israelis who fled their homes along the border with Lebanon.
The U.S.- and France-brokered deal, approved by Israel late Tuesday, calls for an initial two-month halt to fighting and requires Hezbollah to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops are to return to their side of the border.
Thousands of additional Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor compliance.
Israel says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah should it violate the terms of the deal.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon in the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, in support of the Palestinian militant group. That has set off more than a year of fighting and escalated into an all-out war in September, with massive Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon and an Israeli ground invasion of the country's south.
The deal would not address the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, but U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday said his administration would make another push in the coming days to try to renew efforts for a deal there.
Quiet takes hold
Hours before the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect, Israel launched broad strikes that shook the Lebanese capital Beirut and a volley of rockets from Hezbollah set off air raid sirens across a large swath of northern Israel.
But after the ceasefire took effect early Wednesday, quiet appeared to take hold, prompting waves of Lebanese to head home.
Israel's Arabic military spokesperson Avichay Adraee warned displaced Lebanese not to return to their villages in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese military asked the displaced returning to southern Lebanon to avoid front-line villages and towns near the border where Israeli troops are still present until they withdraw.
But some videos circulating on social media show displaced Lebanese defying these calls and returning to villages in the south near the coastal city of Tyre. Israeli troops were still present in parts of southern Lebanon after Israel launched a ground invasion in October.
Traffic gridlocked
On the highway linking Beirut with south Lebanon, thousands of people drove south with their belongings and mattresses tied on top of their cars. Traffic was gridlocked at the northern entrance of the port city of Sidon.
Residents will return to vast destruction wrought by the Israeli military during its campaign, which flattened villages where the military said it found vast weapons caches and infrastructure it says was meant to launch an Oct. 7-style attack on northern Israel.
Sporadic celebratory gunfire was heard at a main roundabout in the city, as people returning honked the horns of cars and residents cheered.
Some Israelis concerned about deal
In Israel, the mood was far more subdued, with displaced Israelis concerned that the deal did not go far enough to rein in Hezbollah and that it did not address Gaza and the hostages still held there.
"I think it is still not safe to return to our homes because Hezbollah is still close to us," said Eliyahu Maman, an Israeli displaced from the northern Israeli city of Kyriat Shmona, which is not far from the border with Lebanon and was hit hard by the months of fighting.
The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel, more than half civilians, as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
A significant return of the displaced to their communities, many of which have suffered extensive damage from rocket fire, could take months.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon in the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, in support of the Palestinian militant group. That has set off more than a year of fighting and escalated into an all-out war in September, with massive Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon and an Israeli ground invasion of the country's south.
With files from CBC News and Reuters