Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire begins amid cautious hope in the Middle East
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has begun.
Commencing at 2am UK time (4am local time) on Wednesday, the deal marks a notable step forward in diplomatic efforts in the region.
Previously such talks had floundered and failed to produce results – until this week.
Read more:
Analysis: Dark clouds hang over Middle East
Explained: Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire
The deal, brokered by the US and France, was announced by President Joe Biden and will see an initial 60-day halt to the fighting that has claimed thousands of Lebanese lives and displaced over a million people.
It will also allow tens of thousands of people both sides of the border to return home.
Israel will gradually withdraw its forces from Lebanon as the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah leaves its positions in the region, and retreats north of the Litani River – which runs around 30km (20miles) north of the border.
The Lebanese army will take control of the territory to ensure Hezbollah doesn’t rebuild infrastructure there, with the country’s foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib saying it could deploy at least 5,000 troops.
“This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Mr Biden said.
“Civilians on both sides will soon be able to safely return to their communities,” he added.
There appeared to be lingering disagreement over whether Israel would have the right to attack Hezbollah if it believed the militants had broken the agreement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was part of the deal but Lebanese and Hezbollah officials reportedly claimed otherwise.
“If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack. For every violation, we will attack with might,” Mr Netanyahu said.
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Biden announcing ceasefire
Mr Biden said Israel had the right to quickly resume operations if Hezbollah did break the truce.
Within Israel, there was not total support for the ceasefire, with a poll conducted by Israel’s Channel 12 TV finding that 37% of Israelis were in favour of the ceasefire, and 32% against.
In Lebanon, people cheered on the streets as it was confirmed.
Israel bombards Lebanon right until ceasefire deadline
With less than half an hour to go until the ceasefire, Israel was still launching strikes on Beirut.
In the days and hours before, it had unleashed a wave of attacks across Lebanon, killing at least 42 people according to Associated Press.
Explosions lit up Lebanon’s skies in the day before the ceasefire with both Beirut and the port city of Tyre targeted by Israel as its cabinet discussed, and eventually voted for, the peace offer.
Smoke rises over Dahiyeh, Beirut, after an Israeli strike on Tuesday.
Pic: AP/Bilal Hussein
Rescuers search for victims in the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.
Pic: AP/Hassan Ammar
Israel also later launched strikes at the north Lebanon crossing with Syria for the first time, according to Lebanon’s transport minister Ali Hamieh.
The most recent deaths mean at least 3,760 people have been killed in Lebanon in the 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which includes the two months since the ground invasion.
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Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the war has displaced 1.2 million people.
In Israel, Hezbollah rockets have struck as far south as Tel Aviv and at least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians.
But while the ceasefire will end hostilities in Lebanon, worries over the situation in Gaza continued.
Charities have repeated warnings of a humanitarian crisis in parts of the enclave and the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that the coming winter would lead to more deaths as well.
Meanwhile, Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages who have spent more than a year captive.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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