https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/28/world/middleeast/lebanon-israel-ceasefire-hezbollah.html
On Wednesday of last week an uneasy truce was conducted between Hezbollah and Israel. The deal its that for the next 60 days Israel will slowly withdraw forces, Hezbollah will move fighters out of southern Lebanon, and the Lebanon Army will take over watching the border. Blame for the events continues to be exchanged but both sides don’t wants to go to full scale fighting. The Lebanon Army however has reported that Israel has broken the deal multiple time. On Thursday many commuters from Israel reported having quit reigned over them as they headed out for the day. They had two consecutive days with out sirens or scares of having another strike. Many people have started to move back into the state after fleeing for the past couple months. Hezbollah lawmakers agreed to follow the deal but speak out on not being afraid to fight again. Roughly over a million people fled Lebanon due to the conflict but they have began making their way back. Israeli forces new reported to slowly withdraw over the next 60 days. Lebanon Parliament has decided to extend the term of their top military commander, Joseph Aoun. Lebanon has also placed “temporary checkpoints” on roads where damages are bad.
This new agreement between the countries hints towards possible peace between them. There are now more people striving for the stop of violence. Over the past couple months there has been almost nonstop destruction of both countries. This has lead to much commotion in the international community. Even if peace is reached there will be severe lasting impact. People will have to rebuild and learn to trust again. In the future there will still be conflict between Israel and Lebanon as they move into different conflicts.
The UN and the United States backed this treaty. Israel and Lebanon officals have both spoken out on how they will honor the deal but if one side slips they aren’t afraid to go back to using violence. This makes things difficult because everyone is trying not to step on each others toes because violence has gone on for a long time. This deal is meant to bring an end to violence but from how the sides are reacting it seems peace is still far out of reach. Both sides still hold grudges and it will make moving forwards hard.
In class we discuss power. Power is what makes the world go round. Israel and Lebanon both want power, they don’t want to be ruled over by another states power. But there is the argument that they have due to this treaty they were faulted by soft power. Both the UN and the United States back this deal, they pushed for it. Them doing this showed neither of them were looking for this conflict to continue any further. They especially wanted the violence to end, hence the treaty. This shows the UN and the United States soft power.