Deep Dive
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Thousands of people have begun their journey home after a ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. There's been intense fighting between the two for over a year. More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, more than a million displaced and many homes destroyed. And Israel has said that 60,000 of its citizens will also be able to go back to their communities along the northern border, which it shares with Lebanon, now safe from rocket fire.
As we're recording this, a few hours into the 60-day ceasefire, so far the agreement is holding. So in this episode, we are going to run through the basics on Hezbollah. We're going to talk about why it's been fighting Israel and what this ceasefire means. I'm Hannah Gelbart, and this is What in the World from the BBC World Service. ♪
Let's get some background on the ceasefire now with Kareen Torbay, our correspondent in Beirut. Hi, Kareen. Hello. So to start off with, who are Hezbollah? Well, Hezbollah is a Shia Lebanese group. Shia is basically, you know, a sect within the Muslim religion. This group, which is backed by Iran, has been formed in 1982 following the Israeli invasion of Beirut.
Since their creation, they vowed to basically resist the Israeli occupation of Lebanon, and they became the main resistance against Israeli occupation of Lebanon, which lasted until the year 2000.
But since then, Hezbollah has also been a, you know, one major player in the political life in Lebanon, in the parliament, in the government, and is one of the most popular parties in the country. And how is it viewed by other governments around the world?
For Lebanon, first, I have to say that it is considered as legitimate resistance. At the moment, there is Israeli invasion of the country. But even before the last round of hostilities and escalation, Israel was still, you know, retaining a part of Lebanon. And that's why Hezbollah was seen as legitimate resistance against Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory.
But countries such as the US, the UK and several Arab countries, they consider it as a prescribed terrorist organization by them. Talk me through what's been happening in the last year. It all started on October 8th, 2023, over a year ago, when Hezbollah started launching attacks against Israeli positions in support of Gaza. That started the day after
the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel. And Hezbollah wanted to open that front from Lebanon in support of Gaza and to kind of lessen the impact of the Israeli war on Gaza, as Israel would have to fight on several fronts.
It all culminated, you know, after a whole year of tit-for-tat attacks and a decision by Israel to escalate the war when it launched a total war against Hezbollah that wasn't only confined to southern Lebanon, to the areas where the fighting was concentrated for around a year, starting with what has been known as the Patriots attack. It's an attack on, you know, the communication devices that many of Hezbollah's
members had on them and they were actually well hacked or we don't know how it happened exactly but they were basically exploded simultaneously while they were on people carrying them
followed by the assassination, of course, of the secretary general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and, you know, a whole number of top leaders within the party. This was coupled with intensive airstrikes on the southern suburb of Beirut, which is, you know, the extension of the capital where Hezbollah has a very significant presence.
on attacks on the Bekaa as well, intensive attacks also on the south, leading to massive displacement in Lebanon as well as a very, very heavy toll of casualties. And that was followed by
by ground invasion into the country while they were attempting to do what they say is to dismantle the infrastructure of Hezbollah. They were met with a lot of resistance by Hezbollah fighters who didn't want Israel to kind of occupy the south of Lebanon. And it all culminated on that point when the two parties decided that they are open to discuss a ceasefire deal.
So this ceasefire was mediated by the US and here is what President Biden said when it was announced. This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities. What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations will not be allowed. If Hezbollah or anyone else breaks the deal,
and pose a direct threat to Israel, then Israel retains the right to self-defence, consistent with international law. Karine, talk me through the terms of the agreement. What does the ceasefire actually mean? Well...
I have to say that the terms are extremely vague, and they can be interpreted in so many different ways by both parties. And there might have been written in general terms, because there might be lots of details to be discussed later. But I have to say that in a nutshell, this is an agreement that states that neither party would attack the other. So Israel will stop
attacking Lebanon either by sea, by land or by air. Hezbollah will stop attacking Israel as well. The Lebanese army will be in the south, will take over any kind of military activity and presence in the south to be the
only armed party in the south of Lebanon. Any military structure outside the Lebanese army will be dismantled. And basically, there will be a committee made up of five countries who understand that it's going to be headed by the U.S. that is going to monitor the implementation of this ceasefire.
This ceasefire is meant to last for 60 days, which is time for troops to be withdrawn. But it is actually meant to be a permanent deal. But what have Israel and Lebanon said if the terms of the ceasefire are breached?
At the moment, you know, both parties are trying to say that this is a good agreement for both countries, each with its own narrative, with its own, you know, way of promoting it, either for domestic, you know, audience or also for in general terms. Today, it's a moment of huge relief for the Lebanese because they have been under relentless, you know, airstrikes. It has been a total nightmare for the Lebanese.
And they were really, really clinging to the hope that this would stop one day. And this has stopped. And today we are seeing people trying to go back to their towns in the south, in the southern suburb of Beirut, in the Bekaa, to check on their properties, on their lands. And there will be lots of, you know, of sadness and disappointment because they would discover the scale of the destruction.
Israel said that it launched all this war basically to ensure the safe return of the residents of the north of Israel to their houses. And basically it wasn't successful because it wasn't able to eliminate or to neutralize the threat of Hezbollah's rockets on northern Israel. Hezbollah from its side was extremely weakened. It's exhausted as well, as is the Israeli army.
And although it continues to fight at the last minute, it said that it is ready to go through a very long war of attrition. It was seeing what's happening to the country. Lebanon has been, you know, at the moment is a country in very, very lamentable state.
The destruction is massive. Complete towns are detonated. The economy is extremely suffering. And basically, it couldn't go forever like this. Karine, thank you for talking to us. My pleasure. So what do people in Lebanon and Israel think about it all? Hugo Beshega is a BBC correspondent, and he's been on the main highway to southern Lebanon. Zip.
A huge traffic jam here of families trying to go back to villages and towns in the south despite warnings from the Israeli military and also by the Lebanese authorities to not return right now because this is a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces. There's still Israeli troops in parts of the south of the country. Now, we've been talking to people here.
You know, they come to us, they say that this is a victory, the fact that they are returning to their homes. They say that no matter what, they will be there, even if their houses are destroyed. There is a lot of destruction in the south of the country. And you can see lots of Hezbollah flags. We've seen lots of posters. Yolanda Nell is our correspondent in Jerusalem.
I mean, opinion seems to be quite split about this ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon. There was one opinion poll by Israel's Channel 12 TV and it found 37% of people were in favour with 32% against. And among those who are against, you have opposition political leaders,
who some of them say that, you know, Hezbollah should have been given an even more decisive blow. Then you also have people from the very north of Israel, the ones that live in these Israeli border communities close to Lebanon. And many of them had really been hoping that there could be some sort of depopulated buffer zone on the Lebanon side of the border, saying that that would make them feel safe.
This ceasefire comes after Israel significantly weakened Hezbollah and killed its leader. So where does it leave Hezbollah now? Jeremy Bowen is our international editor. Well, they're very much embedded in their own Shia Muslim community inside Israel.
Lebanon as an organization that is political and social services as well as a fighting organization. I think there are some big question marks about where they go from here. A lot of it depends on what Iran decides. Iran is the country that armed Hezbollah and it may want to try to rearm it or it might decide that a different strategy is necessary. The
Hezbollah was the strongest part of Iran's so-called axis of resistance. This was their strategy of forward defense through allies and proxies and...
through deals, but Israel has smashed that whole concept. So now Iran is deciding which way does it go. There's been speculation that they might decide to go further along the path of developing some kind of nuclear weapon. But there's also speculation that if Donald Trump, when he goes into the White House,
wants to really make a big deal, well, maybe trying to get some kind of new agreement with Iran might be one way of doing that. Massive barriers to overcome, of course, before anything like that could happen. And what about Hamas, who Israel are fighting in Gaza? Will there be a ceasefire there? You know, Gaza is different. The situation there is more complicated. Israel had a much simpler agenda there.
in Lebanon, essentially punishing Hezbollah, pushing it back from the border, securing its northern flank, doing some damage as well, of course, to Iran indirectly. Gaza is way more complicated there. It's to do with revenge. It's to do with Netanyahu's own political future, as well as securing their border. That's, of course, a big part of it and trying to get their hostages back.
Plenty of Israelis say that Netanyahu is not bothered about that, that what he's most interested in doing is prolonging that Gaza war because politically and ideologically it suits him and his extreme right-wing government. Both sides, you know, they've been protracted negotiations through intermediaries to try to get to a ceasefire, but it comes up against...
So as many people make their way back home, there is still a lot of uncertainty across the region.
Thank you for joining us for today's episode of What in the World from the BBC World Service. You can find updates on this story on the BBC News website and do listen to some of our other episodes covering what's been happening in the Middle East, including how life has changed in Israel and Gaza one year on from October 7th. I'm Hannah Gelbart and I'll be back with another episode soon. See you then. Bye.