Hezbollah vows to continue resistance despite ceasefire with Israel
Hezbollah has vowed to continue its resistance to Israel after the ceasefire came into effect.
Brokered by the US and France, the halt to fighting in Lebanon will see both Israeli and Hezbollah forces retreat.
Its announcement was met by cheers on the streets of Lebanon, where people quickly began taking to the roads, streaming back to the war-ravaged south of the country.
Cars and vans piled high with belongings snaked through parts of Lebanon, heading south.
New data reveals impact of war on Lebanese civilians
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Thousands return home in Lebanon
In its first statement since the ceasefire, the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah made no direct mention of it and vowed to continue resistance.
Hezbollah said its fighters “remain fully equipped to deal with the aspirations and assaults of the Israeli enemy”.
It added its forces would monitor Israel’s withdrawal “with their hands on the trigger”.
While Hezbollah issued a strong statement, the group has been weakened by Israel, who have targeted its leadership and struck notable blows against it.
‘Ray of hope’
The ceasefire was a rare diplomatic win in a region that has been racked by intensified conflicts over the last 14 months.
It ended the deadliest confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah in years, but didn’t address fighting, or worries over humanitarian issues, in the Gaza Strip.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres described the truce as “the first ray of hope” in months as leaders across the world welcomed it.
Read more:
Explained: Israel-Hezbollah truce
Analysis: Will ceasefire deal last?
Queues of traffic in Beirut’s southern suburbs after the ceasefire deal was announced. Pic: Reuters
Asya Atwi stands on rubble near her destroyed home in Zibqin, southern Lebanon.
Pic: Reuters
In the southern Lebanese village of Zibqin, Asya Atwi returned to her ruined home with her husband and daughter.
“The important thing is that we’re back, against Israel’s will and against the will of all the enemies,” she said. “We came back to our hometown, and we will sleep on the rubble.”
‘Let’s hope for the best’
The conflict across the Israeli-Lebanon border has claimed more than 3,760 lives – the vast majority Lebanese – and displaced more than one million people.
Israel has said its military aim fighting in Lebanon was to secure the return of 60,000 Israelis who fled communities in the country’s north.
Asor Gal’it, returning to the Israeli border town of Metula, said on Wednesday she heard some shots when she arrived home.
“We were a little afraid, but we trust our army and let’s see what happens. Let’s hope for the best,” she said.
Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon.
Pic: AP
As Israel pulls out of Lebanon, Hezbollah will pull back north of the Litani River which is about 30km (20 miles) from the border and the Lebanese army will deploy to the area.
In the hours leading up to the ceasefire, Israel conducted waves of attacks on Lebanon.
‘Heading towards famine again’
While the ceasefire has brought a cessation of violence in Lebanon, fighting remains ongoing in Gaza where Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas.
President Joe Biden said his administration was also pushing for an elusive ceasefire deal in the enclave which is “heading towards famine again” a charity chief told Sky News.
Deputy executive director of The World Food Programme Carl Saku told The World with Yalda Hakim that he was “extremely worried about the situation in Gaza”.
He said: “We are heading towards famine again.
“In June and July we’d managed to stabilise the situation and there was access to basic food commodities but in the last six to eight weeks there has been a massive deterioration.
“In the north it’s due to the resumption of the fighting and evacuation orders and in the south it is due to a complete breakdown of law and order.”
This is the highest stakes diplomacy via social media.
The American president just posted on his Truth Social platform: “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.
“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers.
“Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Israel-Iran live: Trump says US knows where Iran’s supreme leader is ‘hiding’
It was followed minutes later by “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
In real-time, we are witnessing Donald Trump’s extreme version of maximum pressure diplomacy.
He’d probably call it the ‘art of the deal’, but bunker busters are the tool, and it comes with such huge consequences, intended and unintended, known and unknown.
Read more:
The bunker buster bomb which could destroy Iran’s nuclear ambitions
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Nuclear sites targeted in Iran
There is intentional ambiguity in the president’s messaging. His assumption is that he can apply his ‘art of the deal’ strategy to a deeply ideological geopolitical challenge.
It’s all playing out publicly. Overnight, the New York Times, via two of its best-sourced reporters, had been told that Mr Trump is weighing whether to use B-2 aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, Axios was reporting that a meeting is possible between Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.
The reporting came just as Mr Trump warned “everyone in Tehran to evacuate”. The nuclear sites being threatened with bunker busters are not in Tehran, but Trump’s words are designed to stoke tension, to confuse and to apply intense pressure.
His actions are too. He left the G7 in Canada early and asked his teams to gather in the White House Situation Room.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trump: ‘I want an end, not a ceasefire’
This is a game of smoke, mirrors, brinkmanship and – maybe – bluff. In Tehran, what’s left of the leadership is watching and reading closely as they consider what’s next.
Maybe the Supreme Leader and his regime’s days are numbered. Things remain very unpredictable.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
From history, though, regime change, even when it comes with a plan – and there is certainly not one here, spells civil war and from that comes a refugee crisis.
These are truly tense and chaotic times.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
Read more from Sky News:
New episodes of The Wargame podcast released
US-UK trade deal is ‘done’, Donald Trump says
Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike