Why Israel and Hezbollah's fragile ceasefire may already be faltering
Hezbollah and Israel traded accusations of ceasefire violations on Thursday, just a day after a US-brokered truce aimed at ending months of conflict took effect. While the agreement initially garnered international praise, experts warn of significant challenges in its implementation and enforcement.
Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah and Israel on Thursday mutually accused each other of violating the ceasefire that had come into force just 24 hours earlier. Hezbollah alleged that Israeli forces had fired on civilians, and the Israeli military said its warplanes had struck southern Lebanon after detecting what it described as Hezbollah activity at an alleged rocket storage facility.
The ceasefire, brokered by US President Joe Biden and accepted by both sides, calls for Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres from the Israeli border. Meanwhile, the Israeli military has 60 days to vacate southern Lebanon.
By 4am local time (0200 GMT) on Wednesday, the region experienced a rare calm, with no gunfire or shelling reported in southern Lebanon. Thousands of displaced Lebanese began returning south that same day. But experts noted from the outset that the ceasefire faces significant challenges.
‘Incredibly difficult to implement’
Despite this optimism, analysts remain cautious. This ceasefire "will be incredibly difficult to implement,” said Robert Geist Pinfold, a Middle East security expert from Durham University.
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