U.S. President Joe Biden announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati had agreed to a U.S.-negotiated ceasefire deal on Tuesday.
Speaking to the press from the White House Rose Garden, Biden said he had just completed a phone call with the two leaders.
“I’m pleased to announce that the governments have accepted the United States proposal to end the devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah,” he said. “Under the deal reached today, effective at 4 a.m. tomorrow, local time, the fighting across the Lebanese-Israeli border will end.”
That correlates to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Eastern Standard Time.
Biden gave a sweeping overview of the conflict, noting that Hezbollah first attacked Israel just hours after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
He also outlined the terms of the ceasefire, saying that it would be implemented within a 60-day time period and was designed to be a “permanent cessation of hostilities.”
“What is left of Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations, will not be allowed to threaten the security of Israel again,” the president said. “Over the next 60 days, the Lebanese army and state security forces will deploy and take control of their own territory once again.”
“Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Southern Lebanon will not be allowed to be rebuilt,” he added. “Over the next 60 days, Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces and civilians on both sides will soon be able to safely return to their communities.”
A senior administration official briefed reporters after the speech about further details of the deal.
Under the agreement, Hezbollah will withdraw its forces north of a line roughly following the Litani River, the official said, creating an approximately 18-mile buffer zone in Southern Lebanon that would be occupied by the Lebanese Armed Forces.
Over the course of the 60 days, Israeli troops will withdraw south, with their positions taken up by the Lebanese military.
France will join and the United States will chair the “tripartite mechanism” originally intended to implement U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, a 2006 measure designed to remove Hezbollah from Southern Lebanon that was not being enforced.
The reporting of violations of the ceasefire will no longer be a U.N. “mailbox” but will instead—under French and U.S. leadership—become a “live messaging” system, according to the senior U.S. official.
‘A vision for the future of the Middle East’
One key element of the deal is the question of whether Israel will retain military freedom of action to eliminate threats and address any violations of the agreement militarily.
“Whenever there is a view of a violation, specifically a serious violation, it is addressed immediately,” the official said. “If it is not addressed by the responsible parties, and it develops into a direct threat, then Israel would have the right to defend itself.”
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office told JNS that the Israeli Political-Security Cabinet approved the arrangement by a 10-1 vote.
“Israel appreciates the U.S. contribution to the process and reserves its right to act against any threat to its security,” the Prime Minister’s Office stated.
Biden also announced that in “the coming days,” the United States would work with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and “others” to achieve a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza and secure the release of the estimated 101 hostages that have been held captive for more than 13 months. He did not specify if “others” meant other nations or specific organizational bodies.
Turkey has not previously been an official mediator with Hamas, but the terror group’s negotiating team relocated to the country after Qatar announced that it was pausing its mediation role.
The senior administration official said that Biden was not naming Turkey as a “broker or negotiator” in the negotiations, but “certain individuals and parties are now spending time in Turkey, and so they were added.”
“This is the moment if anyone in Hamas thought that there was a broad support for their cause, I think today, they have learned that that is not the case,” the official said.
Biden said that the deal could be a step towards further agreements to end the Arab-Israeli conflict and that he believes such deals are possible before he leaves office on Jan. 20.
“Today’s announcement brings us closer to realizing the affirmative agenda that I’ve been pushing forward during my entire presidency: a vision for the future of the Middle East, which is at peace and prosperous and integrated across borders,” Biden said.
“To that end, the United States remains prepared to conclude a set of historic deals with Saudi Arabia, to include a security pact and economic assurances, together with a credible pathway for establishing a Palestinian state and the full normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel,” he added.
