A fragile agreement: One year after the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire deal

Report by Wissam Nasrallah, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

On this day in 2024, Lebanon and Israel were on the verge of finalizing a ceasefire that ended 66 days of war. The agreement contained 13 provisions, with several key points intended to prevent a return to hostilities.

The deal required Hezbollah and all armed groups to halt operations against Israel, while Israel was obligated to stop offensive actions against Lebanon. 

One year later, the record shows Israel did not comply: it continued airstrikes and targeted killings, while Hezbollah did not launch rockets or drones toward Israel during that period.

The fifth clause placed all military authority south of the Litani River in the hands of the Lebanese Armed Forces, Lebanese security institutions, and UNIFIL. 

Lebanese forces were granted full freedom of movement to prevent the smuggling or production of weapons outside state control, dismantle illegal weapons factories, and remove unauthorized military infrastructure. These steps were to begin in the south and expand outward.

Lebanon's army implemented this plan by dismantling and seizing hundreds of sites and weapons south of the Litani and reinforcing its deployment with thousands of troops, as cited in the seventh clause.

 Hezbollah maintains that the agreement applies only to the area south of the Litani, though the document uses the phrasing "starting from south of the Litani."

The agreement also created a monitoring mechanism chaired by the United States and including France, UNIFIL, Lebanon, and Israel. The mechanism was responsible for verifying violations and helping address them. 

However, Israel often bypassed the committee and carried out strikes directly, citing its own assessments of Hezbollah targets.

The ceasefire also outlined Israel's withdrawal, requiring a phased pullback to south of the Blue Line within 60 days, matched by the Lebanese Army's advance into pre-designated positions. Israel overshot the deadline, did not withdraw from all the villages it had seized, and maintained control over five Lebanese hilltops.

Israeli media, including Channel 12, later revealed a parallel U.S. letter of guarantees delivered to Israel at the time of the agreement. The document reaffirmed Washington's commitment to Israel's right to defend itself and pledged to provide intelligence on potential violations, particularly any attempts by Hezbollah to infiltrate Lebanese state institutions or the army.

The guarantees stated Israel could respond immediately to violations in South Lebanon and could act in other areas only if the Lebanese Army was unwilling or unable to intervene. The United States was to be notified when possible. The letter also allowed Israeli reconnaissance flights over Lebanon, so long as they did not break the sound barrier.

A year after the deal, Israel has killed about 350 people in Lebanon and carried out thousands of land, sea, and air breaches. It has destroyed dozens of homes while relying on its own interpretation of the agreement, the U.S. guarantees, and a new regional dynamic in which it asserts the ability to operate where and how it chooses.