What led to the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire: Inside the frantic diplomacy that followed weeks of escalation

Report by Lara El Hachem, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian

On the night of November 26, 2024, Israel launched 50 airstrikes targeting not only Hezbollah’s military capabilities but also its financial institutions, chiefly the al-Qard al-Hasan Association. The strikes set off explosions across Beirut, the south and the Bekaa.

The attacks came just hours before a ceasefire was set to take effect. But how was that ceasefire reached?

Since the start of the war, negotiations between Beirut and Washington continued without pause, but without results. Hezbollah insisted on linking the Lebanon front to Gaza, while Tel Aviv refused to halt the war before degrading the group’s capabilities and completing its target list. 

Then came the moment that shifted both the war and the talks: the pager explosions, followed by the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah, along with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, understood that the situation had entered a highly dangerous phase, while Tel Aviv waited for the right moment to impose its terms.

Negotiators say messages arrived through Egypt, the United States and Morocco — which maintains strong ties with Israel — warning that continued Hezbollah operations would prompt Israel to strike Lebanon’s infrastructure, including the airport and port.

After those messages, efforts intensified, led by five key players.

From Washington: Amos Hochstein, coordinating with former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former U.S. President Joe Biden, who was in frequent contact with former Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

From Lebanon: Mikati and Berri, who continued negotiating on Hezbollah’s behalf after the group’s leadership was shaken.

In that period — specifically in October — Iran entered the talks directly when its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, asked Mikati in Beirut to negotiate while preserving the right to resist any occupation. 

Mikati pushed back, and reports described the meeting as tense. Other accounts said Berri also rejected any Iranian interference in the negotiations.

Days passed as Israel’s assault intensified. Lebanon, losing the war, managed only to secure the current understanding on halting hostile actions, under joint French and U.S. sponsorship.

At the time, information indicated that Tel Aviv intended not only to strike public facilities but also to scrap the Blue Line demarcation and turn front-line villages into a no-man’s land to be occupied by the Israeli army.

In the end, the agreement was reached, and Hezbollah abided by it — unlike Israel, which, from the war to the negotiations and until today, continues to exercise a policy of force, backed by Washington, under the banner of protecting its national security.