Could this finally calm things down on Israel’s northern border? Washington says yes – but only if Hezbollah actually puts the rockets away.

So, it looks like Israel and Lebanon are giving peace another go. The US State Department announced on Wednesday that the two countries have agreed to dust off their shaky ceasefire and try something new: setting up a few “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon where Hezbollah fighters wouldn’t be allowed, cbinews.tv reports.

The catch? The whole deal depends on Hezbollah completely stopping its attacks. No ifs, no buts. The joint statement from Israel, Lebanon and the US also made it pretty clear they’re fed up with anyone – whether it’s a country or some armed group – trying to “hold Lebanon’s future hostage”.

This announcement came right after a tense day. Israeli strikes killed at least nine people in southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah lobbed rockets into northern Israel. And according to Lebanese state media, the Israeli strikes didn’t let up on Thursday either, with at least one causing more casualties.

For context, Hezbollah is a big deal in Lebanon. It’s a Shia Muslim militia, political party and social movement all rolled into one, and it’s arguably more powerful than the Lebanese army itself. Backed by Iran, it’s fought Israel for years and is labelled a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US, the UK and others.

Now, what’s actually in this new agreement? Well, it was hammered out after a fourth round of US-mediated talks. The main condition is that all Hezbollah operatives have to clear out of the area between the Israeli border and the Litani river – that’s about 30km north, and it’s currently where Israeli troops are on the ground.

The US says it’ll help Lebanon’s army set up these “pilot zones” where only the Lebanese Armed Forces can operate. No other armed groups allowed. But here’s the thing – cbinews.tv notes there were no maps or details on where these zones will be, or how they’d work day-to-day.

This follows a partial ceasefire from Monday where Israel said it wouldn’t bomb Beirut if Hezbollah stopped attacking Israel. The next round of talks is set for 22 June, with hopes of landing a “comprehensive agreement”.

Hezbollah hasn’t officially responded yet, telling the BBC they’ll comment “in due course”. Not everyone’s happy though. Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir slammed the deal as a “serious mistake”, saying it would just let Hezbollah “grow stronger”.

Lebanon got dragged into the wider US-Israel-Iran war back on 2 March, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel after an Israeli strike killed Iran’s supreme leader. Israel hit back with air strikes across Lebanon and sent troops into the south.

A US-brokered ceasefire on 16 April didn’t hold, and just last week PM Netanyahu told the Israeli military to ramp up strikes and push deeper into Lebanon after more drone and rocket attacks hit northern Israel.

The human cost has been huge. Lebanon’s health ministry says at least 3,516 people have been killed there since the war began. Those numbers don’t separate fighters from civilians.

Attribution: As reported by cbinews.tv

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