Lebanese Skeptical Of US-Iran Ceasefire As Israel And Hezbollah Fighting Leaves 2,300 Dead

A ten-day ceasefire began in Lebanon since Thursday at midnight after 45 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, leaving nearly 2,300 dead and more than one million internally displaced.

In the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanese people voiced skepticism about the truce, with one resident saying, "Inch Allah, nothing will happen anymore".

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera reported that the US-Iran ceasefire announcement raised hopes in Lebanon after Pakistani mediators claimed it included an end to Israel’s war on the country, but the piece framed local skepticism as a repeat of prior moments.

Le Figaro described Dahiyé, Hezbollah's stronghold, where a rare calm reigns on Haret-Hraik Street even as the Israeli army announced it would maintain its positions in southern Lebanon despite the agreement providing for a halt to fighting for 10 days.

In Dahiyé, Hezbollah's stronghold, Le Figaro said the ceasefire with Israel was greeted with skepticism, noting that Haret-Hraik Street was nearly deserted and that five photos of the late Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah smile from a wall panel that survived a blast.

The same report described a yellow sign on a building bombed on March 6 that reads: 'Leave the mountain and don't be sad; this is Dahiyé'.

L'Orient Today

In Nabatieh, L'Orient Today quoted Soumaya Olleiq, who said, "I'm still very cautious, and I'm not very optimistic. This war isn't going to stop overnight," after losing count of how many times a "cease-fire" has been declared.

Olleiq, a resident of Yohmor al-Shaqif, said, "It's always the same bad joke. They mock us every time, saying the war is going to stop ... The Israelis will keep shooting, Hezbollah will respond, and things will start again like before."

La Croix said the ceasefire was an agreement wrung from Donald Trump, who on Friday, April 17, promised that Israel "would not bomb Lebanon anymore," but the article kept focus on skepticism in the southern suburb.

“Since Thursday at midnight, a ten-day ceasefire began in Lebanon, after 45 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that left nearly 2,300 dead and more than one million internally displaced”

La Croix

L'Orient Today tied that skepticism to a pattern of repeated declarations, with Olleiq saying she has lost count after April 7, then April 17, and again June 15.

Le Figaro described how, in a grocery store in Dahiyé, Saleh and Hussein leaned over an electrical panel that no longer feeds anything, while the report said that like 1.2 million other people, they have been forcibly displaced by evacuation orders and Israeli airstrikes.

Al Jazeera’s segment placed the US-Iran ceasefire announcement in the context of Pakistani mediators claiming it included an end to Israel’s war on the country, even as the Lebanese response remained skeptical.