“It’s time for everyone to make a first assessment of profits and losses,” judges bitterly the Lebanese newspaper The Orient By Day, at the dawn of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, fiercely negotiated in recent weeks by the United States and supported by France. Agreed to Tuesday evening by Benjamin Netanyahu, the cessation of fighting finally came into force around 4 a.m. this Wednesday, November 27, followed by a sigh of relief from the international community. The Israeli Prime Minister’s announcement was immediately confirmed by Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron, who promised a few hours later in a joint statement to work with Lebanon and Israel to ensure that this arrangement was “implemented”. implemented in its entirety and applied”. Thousands of Lebanese, as well as nearly 90,000 Israelis, will now be able to return to their homes in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
The United States quickly hailed “a new beginning” for Lebanon and “good news,” following a series of negotiations last week between U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein and Lebanese and Israeli officials. The agreement includes a 60-day implementation window during which the Lebanese army will deploy to the south of the country and Israeli troops will withdraw. During this period in theory, “no American combat troops will be deployed in Lebanon”, even if the United States and France will provide the Lebanese army with “the necessary assistance”, specifies the Politico website. The Lebanese army will be, “along with the country’s security forces and the troops of the United Nations mission, UNIFIL, which ensures compliance with the resolution, the only one authorized to carry arms or deploy south of the Litani “, further details the spanish daily El País.
Temporary truce or permanent ceasefire?
On the morning of its entry into force, Joe Biden “described the ceasefire as a permanent cessation of fighting”, underlines Politico, for whom this cessation of fighting constitutes in itself “a major victory” for the White House. A tone perhaps optimistic, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday evening that “the duration of the ceasefire will depend on what happens in the neighboring country, because it will not hesitate to act with force in the face of any violation by Hezbollah”, responds cautiously El País.
In the hours preceding the ceasefire, the Israeli army took advantage of “the last moments to bombard Beirut with unusual violence, including areas of the center which had never been targeted. Hours marked by fear, with crowds taking refuge in a hospital, traffic jams to escape and ambulances trying to force their way through the vehicles,” describes the Spanish-speaking newspaper. Not to mention, point the New York Times in an editorial, “After past wars, Hezbollah has rebuilt its capabilities and ignored ceasefire restrictions, so it is not certain that the calm is truly permanent.”
In any case, “America undoubtedly wins the first prize in the competition in terms of achievement”, judges The Orient by Day facing the celebrations of Israel’s first support among the international community. “Powerless to keep the Israeli fury against Gaza under control, Washington will have ended up making itself heard in Lebanon, even if it had enthusiastically supported the hunt for Hezbollah” continues the newspaper. A boon for Donald Trump, with whom Joe Biden “will undoubtedly have to share his Oscar”, since the latter “promised to end all wars – and even to achieve this even before moving into the White House – this is still a thorny issue,” concluded the French-speaking Lebanese media.
What will happen to Gaza?
This victory actually marks for Western diplomats the first step in a broader hope: that “the truce will mark a de-escalation of regional tensions after months of increasing violence which included the assassination of the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas and a direct confrontation with Iran”, with which direct strikes were exchanged in October, develops the Times. Because “if the destruction and loss of life in Lebanon were terrible, they were much worse in Gaza” underlines the New York Timesaccording to which Save The Children has counted more than 3,000 deaths of children under the age of five in the strip since the start of the war a little over a year ago.
Just hours after Israeli troops began retreating in southern Lebanon, the White House is already vowing to push for a similar truce in Gaza. “In the coming days, the United States will again lead an effort with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and other countries to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of hostages and the end of the war without Hamas in power,” declared Joe Biden on the morning of the Lebanese ceasefire. What arouse real hope?
“If we follow the current trajectory, it appears that the Gaza crisis will continue under the Trump administration,” contests the American site Axios. Because in addition to the winter which is setting in, threatening the refugees with cold and famine, this agreement will make it possible “to restore strength to Israel for its operations in Gaza”, note Time. “It is a safe bet that Benyamin Netanyahu will have made promises on Gaza to the most extremist fringe of his government to alleviate his anger over the truce in Lebanon,” estimates the Swiss daily. “The truce thus risks further aggravating, if possible, the fate of the Gazans, whose territory once again becomes Israel’s last major front.”