United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres looks on during a joint statement with Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, in Sao Bento Palace, Lisbon, Portugal, on November 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon that took effect earlier on Wednesday (November 27, 2024) was “the first ray of hope” in the regional conflict after months of escalation.

“It is essential that those who signed the ceasefire commitment respect it in full,” he said in a short televised statement during a visit to his native Lisbon, adding that the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon was ready to monitor the ceasefire.

He also reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“I received an auspicious sign yesterday, the first ray of hope for peace amid the darkness of the past months,” he said, referring to the agreement.

“It is a moment of great importance, especially for civilians who were paying an enormous price of this spreading conflict.”

New Delhi:

India today welcomed the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon saying that the move will help bring peace and stability in West Asia. New Delhi said that it has always recommended the path of diplomacy as the 21st Century is no longer an era for war.

“We welcome the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that has been announced. We have always called for de-escalation, restraint, and returh to the path of dialogue and diplomacy,” a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs read.

“We hope that these developments will lead to peace and stability in the wider region,” it added.

A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon came into effect today. Militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, is based in Lebanon and the latest conflict with Israel started after Hezbollah attacked Israel with its rockets and projectiles in support of its regional ally Hamas, which is another militant group backed by Iran.

Hezbollah has been supporting Hamas – based in Gaza – in its war with Israel. Hamas had carried out a terrorist attack on Israel in October 2023 when it crossed the Gaza-Israel border and stormed a concert killing several Israeli nationals and taking many as hostages, some of whom are still in captivity. This is what triggered the latest war in the region. It has now been more than a year of war in the Middle-East in which tens of thousands of people have died.

Though the ceasefire, a welcome step, halts the war on the Lebanon-front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his statement clearly said that the focus on Hamas and Iran will not end.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has also warned that if Hezbollah breaks the deal, Israel will not honour it either and will strike back with full force. The peace deal has been achieved with the intervention of the United States and France, and US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to make an official announcement shortly.

Displaced residents of south Lebanon have begun to return to their homes amid celebrations hours after the ceasefire.

Since the beginning of the war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly expressed his deep concern over the widening of the conflict in West Asia and reiterated India’s call to de-escalate the situation.

Stating that “India is on the side of peace”, PM Modi had also said that New Delhi will do whatever it can to help bring all sides to the dialogue table.

Earlier this week, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar also met Lebanon Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on the sidelines of Rome Mediterranean Dialogue. Speaking about the crises in West Asia as well as the war between Russia and Ukraine, Mr Jaishankar had said that “solutions are not going to come from the battlefield.”

Speaking specifically about the Middle East conflict, Mr Jaishankar said, “The situation in the Middle East is obviously deeply concerning, both for what has happened and what may still come. India unequivocally condemns terrorism and hostage taking. It also regards large scale civilian casualties in military operations to be unacceptable. International humanitarian law cannot be disregarded. In immediate terms, we should all support a ceasefire.”
 

“We are stating that, as Turkey, we are ready to provide any contribution for the massacre in Gaza to end and for a lasting ceasefire to be achieved,” said Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday (November 27, 2024) that Turkey was ready to help in any way possible to establish a lasting ceasefire in Gaza and expressed satisfaction with the ceasefire agreement that has come into effect in Lebanon.

Turkey, which has fiercely criticised Israel’s offensives in Gaza and Lebanon, has previously said it discussed a potential truce in Gaza with Palestinian militant group Hamas and gave the group recommendations on how to proceed with the negotiations.

On Tuesday (November 26, 2024), U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States would again push for an elusive ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza “with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others”.

“We are stating that, as Turkey, we are ready to provide any contribution for the massacre in Gaza to end and for a lasting ceasefire to be achieved,” Mr. Erdogan told members of his ruling AK Party in parliament.

Asked about Mr. Biden’s remarks, a Turkish official told Reuters a ceasefire in Lebanon without a truce in Gaza was not enough to achieve regional stability, adding Ankara was ready to help reach a deal in Gaza, just as it had supported previous efforts.

“We are again ready to help achieve a permanent ceasefire and a lasting solution in Gaza,” the official said.

While Ankara has repeatedly traded insults with Israel since the outbreak of the Gaza war, it has not officially severed ties with it. Unlike Israel and its Western partners, Turkey does not consider Hamas a “terrorist organisation” and regularly hosts some of its senior members.

A Lebanese army soldier and people stand on rubble at a damaged site in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, Lebanon. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Israeli military said it struck dozens of targets belonging to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah before the start of a ceasefire on Wednesday (November 27, 2024).

The strikes hit “dozens of Hezbollah command centres, launchers, weapons storage facilities, and terrorist infrastructure sites in Beirut, Tyr, and Nabatiyeh,” it said, adding the air force also struck “several smuggling routes between Syria and Lebanon, which Hezbollah used to smuggle weaponry”.

Men wave as they sit amidst the rubble of a building in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on November 27, 2024, as displaced people make their way back to their homes in the south of Lebanon after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect.
| Photo Credit: AFP

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 (November 27, 2024) morning.

The ceasefire has brought relief across the 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 (November 26, 2024).

Thousands of people 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 an 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.