Israel’s Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, spoke to ANI about the intricacies of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
Ambassador Azar highlighted how 14 months after the unprovoked aggression of Hezbollah on Israel’s border with Lebanon, Israel has taken action to completely neutralise the Hezbollah threat and take it out of the equation.
“Israel has taken out the entire Hezbollah leadership. We have uprooted all the military infrastructure that was prepared to launch an attack against Israel from the Lebanese side of the border with Israel”, he told ANI.
The Ambassador informed that “Israel has taken out multiple factories of missiles, and drones, and we’ve killed thousands of Hezbollah terrorists” and noted that finally, Hezbollah has decided to agree to a ceasefire.
“That means that it’s no longer part of the multi-front attack against Israel. That is very important. And it is a sign that Israel has managed to get a victory over Hezbollah”, Ambassador Azar said.
Discussing the terms of the ceasefire, he said, “First, we have to implement Resolution 1701 and there’s going to be an international mechanism that is going to monitor the infiltrations of Hezbollah if it infiltrates south of the Litani River and approaches Israel. Israel will maintain the right to strike itself if Hezbollah breaches the conditions of UN Security Council Resolution 1701”.
On being asked about the duration of the ceasefire, the Ambassador said that initially it was for 60 days and hoped that it would last for more. He noted, “This is a period in which we can test the intentions of Lebanon. Lebanon has committed to deploy the Lebanese army in the south, and UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) will be deployed in the south. And they are supposed to do their job to prevent Hezbollah from entering south Lebanon. If they fail to do that, that will put the cease-fire in danger. And Israel, as I told you, keeps the right to defend itself, by itself against the Hezbollah threat”.
Speaking about Iran, Ambassador Azar said, “We know that Iran initiated this unprovoked attack by Hezbollah and Iran tried to attack Israel on multiple fronts while staying immune”. He said that Iran is no longer immune and is “completely exposed” because Israel “took out their missile defence capabilities, missile and drone factories, and even struck an element of the nuclear programme”.
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Ambassador Azar noted that this is thus the reason why they have agreed to a ceasefire. “They will have to calculate again in the future whether they want to attack Israel again either directly or indirectly”, he observed.
Israel and Lebanon have been engaged in a prolonged conflict that began in October last year, when Hezbollah attacked Israeli-controlled territory in solidarity with Hamas and Palestinians in Gaza, as reported by CNN.
This incident sparked a series of tit-for-tat border attacks, which eventually escalated into a major military offensive launched by Israel in mid-September.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had this September carried out air strikes against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group and sent troops into southern Lebanon. This was in response to Hezbollah’s rocket strikes into Israel to show solidarity with the Hamas group that had carried out the deadly October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
Amid the background of this volatile situation, a ceasefire was negotiated by the US and France between Israel and
Lebanon
.
“The announcement today will cease the fighting in Lebanon, and secure Israel from the threat of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations operating from Lebanon. This announcement will create the conditions to restore lasting calm and allow residents in both countries to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line”, the Joint Statement issued by US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron read.
