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Israel and Hizbollah have agreed to a fresh ceasefire, according to three people with knowledge of the situation, after fighting between the two foes once again threatened to derail a broader diplomatic push to end the war in the Middle East.
The latest truce between Israel and the Lebanese militant group came after Iran cancelled nuclear talks with US officials in Switzerland because of Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
The ceasefire, which was due to take effect at 4pm local time (2pm British Summer Time), was mediated by Qatar, the US and Iran, according to two diplomats with knowledge of the situation.
Oil prices turned lower on the news, with Brent crude down 0.8 per cent at $79.25 a barrel on Friday.
Multiple attempts to entrench ceasefires between the two sides have failed in recent months. Lebanese media reported about a dozen Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon in the hour after the ceasefire was due to take effect.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new truce.
Ibrahim Al-Moussawi, an MP from Hizbollah’s political wing, told Qatar’s al-Araby TV that Hizbollah “will abide by the ceasefire if Israel abides by it, and we reserve the right to respond”.
Lebanon has become a major test of the tenuous deal struck this week to extend the ceasefire between the US and Iran for 60 days and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is a crucial artery for global energy supplies.
Iran, which backs the Shia militant group Hizbollah, has insisted that Lebanon be included in the wider deal. However, Israeli officials have insisted that they will not withdraw from Lebanon, and Israeli attacks on Beirut have repeatedly threatened to derail the US-Iranian negotiations.
Hostilities between Israel and Hizbollah have continued in recent days, despite this week’s broader deal between the US and Iran, and escalated sharply overnight.
Israeli air strikes hit more than 20 villages across southern Lebanon, killing 47 people and wounding 97, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The Israeli military said on Friday that it had struck more than 150 targets in Lebanon since midnight, including in the eastern Bekaa Valley, in response to what it said were “repeated violations of the ceasefire” by the Lebanese militant group.
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A Hizbollah drone strike on an Israeli tank in southern Lebanon killed four Israeli soldiers, and five more were injured in a separate drone attack.
The deaths sparked a furious response from hardliners in the Israeli cabinet, with ultranationalist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich demanding Israel respond by “opening the gates of Hell”, and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir saying that “all of Lebanon must burn”.
“For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep,” he wrote on X. “In the Middle East, you don’t win with measured responses and restraint — you need to go berserk. To obliterate. To crush the terror.”
Later on Friday, Netanyahu said Israel would stay in the self-declared “security zone” it has seized in southern Lebanon “as long as necessary” to protect communities in northern Israel from Hizbollah.
“Israel will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers or our territory, and it will exact a very heavy price from Hizbollah for these attacks,” he said.
Source:
www.ft.com
