A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect this evening, brokered by the United States, even as new airstrikes pounded southern Lebanon hours earlier. The deal, announced after weeks of shuttle diplomacy, aims to halt the deadliest cross-border violence in decades. But on the ground, the sound of explosions still echoed as families in border villages scrambled for shelter.
The ceasefire agreement, signed in Beirut and Jerusalem, calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the frontier. A monitoring mechanism, led by the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL and backed by US intelligence, will verify compliance. “This is not a surrender, but a strategic pause,” said a Hezbollah official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We have achieved our objectives of deterrence.”
Yet the timing of the accord raised eyebrows. Just hours before the truce took effect, Israeli jets struck what the military described as a Hezbollah rocket-launching site near the village of Qana, killing at least five people, according to Lebanese health officials. The strikes came after a day of intense exchanges: Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel, triggering air raid sirens in Haifa and sending residents into bunkers.
For the communities on both sides of the border, the ceasefire offers a glimmer of relief but no guarantee of safety. In the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, shopkeeper Yossi Cohen was packing his family into the car. “We’ve heard these promises before. I’ll believe it when my children can sleep through the night without sirens,” he said.
Across the border in the Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab, Umm Hassan sat among the rubble of her home, cradling a photograph of her son killed in last week’s bombing. “They say peace is coming. But my son is gone. What do I have left?” she whispered.
The human cost of the conflict is staggering. More than 1,200 people have been killed in Lebanon, many of them civilians, according to the health ministry. In Israel, 47 people have died, including 12 soldiers. The fighting has displaced over 100,000 people on each side, straining already fragile economies.
Economists warn that the war has deepened Lebanon’s financial crisis, already one of the worst since the 19th century. The Lebanese pound has lost 95% of its value since 2019. The conflict has destroyed critical infrastructure, including water treatment plants and electricity grids. “Every day of fighting pushes recovery further away,” said Rania al-Masri, an economist at the American University of Beirut. “The ceasefire must hold, or the country will collapse into chaos.”
For Israel, the cost of the war has been high in both blood and treasure. Defence spending has skyrocketed, with the government approving a $15 billion emergency budget to cover military operations and compensation for affected businesses. “This war is being fought with borrowed money,” warned Eran Yashiv, a Tel Aviv University economist. “We cannot afford a prolonged conflict.”
The ceasefire’s durability will depend on whether both sides see strategic gain in upholding it. Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed group designated as a terrorist organisation by the UK and US, may use the pause to rebuild its arsenal. Israel, meanwhile, has vowed to respond to any violation with overwhelming force.
In Washington, President Joe Biden hailed the agreement as a “diplomatic breakthrough”. But in the bombed-out streets of south Beirut, the reaction was more cautious. As men cleared debris from a collapsed apartment block, one said simply: “We are tired. We want to live.”
The world watches, holding its breath. For now, the guns have fallen silent. But the underlying tensions remain, and the peace is as fragile as the ceasefire line itself.
