Lebanon ceasefire deal extended as initial deadline passes

The initial ceasefire plan, announced in late November, brought an end to 14 months of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Brokered by the US and France, the agreement gave Hezbollah 60 days to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon and required Israeli forces to withdraw over the same period.

Announcing the plan, then-US President Joe Biden said it was “designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities” between the two sides.

But on Friday, with two days to go before the deadline, Israel said some soldiers would remain in the region as the ceasefire agreement was “yet to be fully enforced by the Lebanese state”.

A White House statement on Sunday said the deadline has now been moved to 18 February, and that negotiations will begin for the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after 7 October 2023.

Thousands of Lebanese residents have returned to towns and villages near the border since the deal was agreed, despite warnings that the region was still unsafe.

On Sunday, the Lebanese health ministry said 22 people had been killed by Israeli soldiers in the area.

The Israeli military said it had fired “warning shots in multiple areas”, without specifying if people had been hit, and apprehended several people it claimed posed an “imminent threat”.

The longstanding conflict between Israel and Hezbollah – an Iranian-backed militant, political and social movement – escalated last September. This lead to an intense Israeli air campaign across Lebanon, a ground invasion of the country’s south, and the assassination of Hezbollah’s senior leaders.

The offensive killed around 4,000 people in Lebanon – including many civilians – and led more than 1.2 million residents to be displaced.

Israel’s stated goal was to allow the return of around 60,000 residents who had fled from communities in the country’s north because of Hezbollah’s attacks, and to remove the group from areas along the border.

Hezbollah launched its campaign the day after the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, saying it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.