Lebanon and Israel have agreed to renew a fragile ceasefire and create a “pilot” security zone inside Lebanon that would ban Hezbollah operatives, the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
The agreement was conditioned on a “complete cessation” of attacks by Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed armed group. Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization by many countries, including Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The deal was announced Wednesday after Lebanon and Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel and Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese state media also reported that Israeli airstrikes continued on Thursday, with at least one strike causing casualties.
Hezbollah rejected the agreement, and its leader Naeem Kassem said any agreement between Lebanon and Israel would amount to “surrender and defeat.”
BBC correspondent John Sudworth explains why the ceasefire is so fragile in this report from Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
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