10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire begins

BEIRUT (AFP) — A 10-day ceasefire deal struck between Lebanon and Israel took effect on Friday, sending displaced residents streaming south towards their homes, even as the Lebanese army warned of “a number of violations” in the area.

Shortly after the truce went into effect at midnight local time, the army told residents of the south — many of whom had to flee their homes following sweeping Israeli evacuation warnings — not to return, citing “several Israeli acts of aggression.”

Nonetheless, Agence France-Presse images showed packed cars heading southwards along Lebanon’s coastal highway before dawn, and crossing at sunrise what was left of a bridge bombed by Israel during the war.

Displaced resident Alaa Damash acknowledged the warnings “to wait a bit” before rushing back home.

But the people’s “love for their lands and houses, and their attachment to them, pushed them to go back there despite the fire threats,” she said.

The ceasefire represents a key step in Washington’s efforts to reach a deal to end its war with Iran, with Tehran insisting a Lebanon truce must be part of any agreement.

Mediator Islamabad has been leading the international push to restart face-to-face talks between Tehran and Washington with Trump signaling he might fly to Pakistan to sign any agreement — adding they were “very close” to striking one.

The fighting in Lebanon broke out on 2 March when Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel just a few days after the start of the Middle East war in retribution for the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in the opening waves of United States-Israeli strikes.

Gunfire rang out overnight in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, as the ceasefire came into effect — an apparent bout of spontaneous celebration, although that could not be confirmed.

Traffic accumulated kilometers away from the only bridge connecting the coastal region south of Lebanon’s Litani River to the rest of the country, as people lined up for hours waiting for a chance to return home, AFP journalists said.

As the ceasefire came into effect, Israel’s military said it had struck over 380 “Hezbollah terror organization targets in southern Lebanon” and was on “high alert” to resume strikes.

Trump said he had spoken to both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun ahead of the truce, adding the pair had agreed to the truce “in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries.”