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Ceasefire, then violations
Lebanon’s ceasefire with Israel entered a fragile phase, with Al Jazeera describing a framework agreement that officials call a roadmap toward ending hostilities while critics question whether Lebanon traded accountability for a ceasefire.
“Toggle Play Lebanon's fragile ceasefire: 3 months later While officials describe the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel as a roadmap toward ending hostilities, critics question whether Lebanon traded accountability for a ceasefire”
Al Jazeera’s Benjamin Netanyahu News segment says the three months of the ceasefire saw continued Israeli airstrikes and more than one million people displaced.
In parallel, L’Express said the ceasefire was expected to take effect overnight from Thursday, April 16 to Friday, April 17 after Donald Trump announced a ten-day ceasefire.
L’Express also reported that Lebanon accused Israel of violating the ceasefire “this morning,” triggering a Hezbollah response, as the agreement preserved Israel’s right to take necessary measures in self-defense while requiring it not to carry out any offensive military operation against Lebanese targets.
Who said what
In Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio framed the Israel-Lebanon agreement as “the first step,” saying, “This first step sometimes is the hardest one, but it’s an important one and the one we’ve taken together.”
Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad described the “trilateral framework” as a first step toward restoring “Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity” and enabling “a permanent and final cessation of hostilities.”
L’Express, meanwhile, said the ceasefire was widely criticized because it did not address the disarmament of Hezbollah and did not mention the withdrawal of Israeli troops occupying a large part of southern Lebanon.
L’Express also reported that Hezbollah announced it had bombarded a gathering of Israeli soldiers near the town of Khiam in southern Lebanon “in response to the ceasefire violation by the occupying army,” while warning it kept its finger on the trigger if Israel violated the truce again.
What’s at stake next
L’Express said several unresolved questions remained after the initial ten-day ceasefire, including the fate of the one million displaced Lebanese during the fighting and whether the truce would be extended beyond the initial period.
“Summary The war in Lebanon has posed a test for the interim agreement between the United States and Iran on ending the war between them, as Tehran announced at the start of the week that it would again close the Strait of Hormuz, saying that the United States had not fulfilled its commitment to halt the fighting in Lebanon”
The same account said thousands of displaced people rushed onto the roads after the ceasefire was announced, with huge traffic jams forming on the road linking Beirut to the south of the country.
In a separate report, Al-Quds Al-Arabi said the ceasefire largely held and that fears of renewed fighting kept displaced people from returning home, while Reuters phone reporting quoted Hassan Wazni saying, “I am watching the situation day by day, and most of the time I am sleeping at the hospital.”
Al-Quds Al-Arabi also described a mechanism to guarantee the ceasefire, with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance saying “a mechanism has been created to monitor the ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah,” alongside plans for a mechanism to disarm Hezbollah and protect Israel’s security and Lebanon’s sovereignty.
