Long-displaced residents of south Lebanon started returning to their homes amid celebrations hours after a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group took effect early Wednesday morning.
The ceasefire has brought relief across the tiny Mediterranean nation, coming after days of some of the most intense airstrikes and clashes since the war began, though many wondered if the agreement to stop fighting would hold. Israel has said it will attack if Hezbollah breaks the ceasefire agreement, which was announced Tuesday.
Hundreds of cars made their way into southern Lebanon, defying a warning from the Israeli military to stay away from previously evacuated areas.
At least 42 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Tuesday, according to local authorities. Hezbollah also fired rockets into Israel on Tuesday, triggering air raid sirens in the country’s north.
The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire marks the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but it does not address the devastating war in Gaza.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel a day after Hamas’ attack. The fighting in Lebanon escalated into all-out war in September with massive Israeli airstrikes across the country and an Israeli ground invasion of the south.
In Gaza, more than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded in the nearly 14-month war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Tehran’s main militant partner in the Mideast.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei praised the ceasefire in a statement Wednesday morning.
Baghaei said that Iran still sought a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. But like Hezbollah, it’s dropped the demand that a ceasefire also take place at the same time in the Gaza Strip.
He also called for the International Criminal Court to try the “criminals of the occupying regime,” referring to Israel. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netayahu and Israel’s former defense minister.
TYRE, Lebanon — Displaced people started returning to the coastal city of Tyre on motorcycles and in cars early Wednesday, defying an Israeli military warning to stay away from previously evacuated areas.
Ahmad Husseini said returning to southern Lebanon was an “indescribable feeling” and praised Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, who led Lebanon’s negotiations with Washington. “He made us and everyone proud.”
Husseini, who earlier fled a town near the coastal city, spoke to media while in his car with family members.
Meanwhile, sporadic celebratory gunfire can be heard at a main roundabout in the city, as people returning honked the horns of cars — some piled with mattresses — and residents cheered.
A couple of men shouted slogans praising slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September.
Hussein Sweidan said he sees the ceasefire as a victory for Hezbollah. “This is a moment of victory, pride and honor for us, the Shia sect, and for all of Lebanon,” he said.
BEIRUT — As dawn broke in Beirut, plumes of smoke were visible rising from places hit by Israeli strikes before the ceasefire took effect at 4 a.m. Residents of Lebanon’s capital and its southern suburbs endured the most intense day of strikes since the war began on Tuesday.
BEIRUT — As the ceasefire went into effect early Wednesday, much of Lebanon was quiet for the first time since late September, following weeks of intense overnight strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon.
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