Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire yesterday, after an escalation in hostilities in Lebanon sorely tested the United States-Iranian interim deal to end the wider Middle East conflict.
A senior Israeli official and two Hezbollah sources confirmed the ceasefire to Reuters, which a U.S. official said was due to begin at 4 p.m yesterday.
“If Hezbollah does not attack us, then for us it is not a time of war,” the Israeli official said. Israeli forces would remain in southern Lebanon, the official told Ruters.
Two Lebanese security sources said Israel carried out a dozen airstrikes in the first hour after the ceasefire came into effect, but none were recorded after 5 p.m.
An Israeli military official confirmed that there had been no strikes since 5 p.m. but denied that Israel had carried out a dozen strikes after 4 p.m.
At around 8 p.m Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said a drone strike killed two people on a motorbike on a southern Lebanese highway.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the drone attack.
Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 47 people in Lebanon since midnight, the Lebanese health ministry reported. Israel reported four of its soldiers killed in south Lebanon in one of the deadliest Hezbollah attacks of the war.
The Iran deal requires the United States, Iran, and their allies to declare an immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon. Violence has picked up over the course of the week after initially abating when the agreement was first announced.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah earlier told Reuters that Iran had informed the group that talks with Washington could not continue without a comprehensive ceasefire.
The senior U.S. official told Reuters that the ceasefire was worked out by negotiators for the U.S. and Qataris with help from Iran.
“Hezbollah and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire,” the U.S. official said. “We understand that after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ceasefire.”
Israel, which was not consulted in the negotiations that led to this week’s U.S. memorandum of understanding with Iran, has bristled at the apparent requirement that it halt its campaign in Lebanon, which it invaded after Hezbollah fired across the border in solidarity with Tehran on March 2.
The Israeli official said Israel had the freedom to act against emerging threats and threats to its forces and territory.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to “extract a very heavy price” from Hezbollah for the killing of the four soldiers.
Israeli officials have voiced anger at the U.S.-Iran pact, saying it does not go far enough to address Israeli concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme.
