A Ceasefire Between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon
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Today on State of the World, a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Tuesday, November 26th. I'm Greg Dixon.

Israel has agreed to a ceasefire with the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon starting in the morning local time on Wednesday, November 27th. It will be the first major ceasefire between the two parties since the latest round of hostilities began in October of last year. That's when Hezbollah started firing rockets over Israel's northern border in retaliation for Israel's invasion of Gaza, which followed the October 7th Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

This ceasefire hopes to bring 13 months of deadly fighting between Hezbollah and Israel to an end, fighting which has uprooted masses of civilians on both sides and left immense destruction. Just hours before the ceasefire deal was announced, Israel mounted a round of fierce attacks in Lebanon, and Hezbollah rockets continued to hit northern Israel.

We're going to hear from NPR correspondents in both countries. Lauren Freyer is in Beirut, and Daniel Estrin is in Tel Aviv. They spoke to Mary Louise Kelly. Lauren, I'm going to start with you. What are the terms of this ceasefire?

Yeah, Mary Louise, this is a 60-day truce in which Israel will withdraw its ground troops from Lebanon, halt airstrikes. Hezbollah will move its fighters and weapons north of the Litani River. That's about 20 miles away from the Israeli border. The Lebanese army will deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers who are already in the area of southern Lebanon. An international committee will monitor implementation of

these are actually the same terms as the last ceasefire here in 2006, but they were never fully implemented back then. Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv, this is notable because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is throwing his personal weight behind this deal. Do we know why and why at this particular moment?

Well, he gave a speech and he said that Hezbollah has been significantly weakened, sent back decades, he said. He also gave some other reasons. He said it was time to end the war now to give Israel's troops a rest and also because Israel's ammunition is running low.

He also said that this ceasefire deal in Lebanon could create the pressure needed to try to reach a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza. But he emphasized one thing, which is that he said the U.S. knows that Israel maintains the freedom to attack Israel.

You know, this is a 60-day ceasefire period, and that period ends just as the Trump administration will be entering the White House. So Israel is presuming here that Trump would give it a free hand to strike back in Lebanon if it thinks it needs to.

Okay, let's catch up on what the reality on the ground is tonight. Lauren, I gather it has felt anything like anything but a ceasefire where you are. What is the mood in Beirut? Absolutely. Israeli airstrikes have only intensified here. This afternoon, I was in a supermarket buying a turkey for Thanksgiving. When the building shook, the electricity went out briefly. We've had huge blasts across this city, even in the past few minutes.

It's been really the most intense 24 hours of the war on this front. Israel has also ordered evacuations in central Beirut for the first time tonight, including an area next to the American University of Beirut, and then struck buildings there. There are lots of casualties across the city tonight. One of our producers spoke to people streaming out into the streets. Here's one of them. His name is Ali Bazi. He works at a board game center near the university. No one around us.

has any ties with Hezbollah or Hamas. We were shocked. The families that are living inside these buildings, it's not fair. If you want to attack an organization, you wipe out an entire country.

More than 3,800 people have been killed in Lebanon since this war began, and more than 75 people have been killed in northern Israel. Okay, well, Daniel, this is interesting. How is Israel explaining these big strikes in Lebanon, even as a ceasefire deal was on the table? You know, Israeli commentators are saying that Israel is trying to hit every potential remaining target that remains in its bank of targets, but they're not doing it.

all the way to the last minute until the ceasefire takes effect. It even sent its ground troops the farthest north that they have been in this entire conflict in Lebanon, near the Latani River.

I should also mention that Hezbollah rockets continued hours before the ceasefire deal was announced. They reached deep into northern Israel. So a lot of Israelis tonight are feeling anxious and anticipating final salvos from Hezbollah just before the ceasefire takes effect. And then briefly, I'm curious about all the people who have been displaced by fighting. Does the ceasefire deal mean they might be able to think about starting to go home, Lauren?

The United Nations estimates a quarter of this country's entire population has been displaced. There's been a massive exodus out of Lebanon's south. If this takes effect tomorrow morning, we could see a massive flow of people in the other direction back to their homes. But a lot of people don't have homes to go back to. Parts of Lebanon, especially the south and the southern suburbs of Beirut, really look like Gaza now. It's a wasteland.

That is NPR's Lauren Frayer in Beirut and NPR's Daniel Estrin reporting for us in Tel Aviv tonight. Thanks to you both. You're welcome. Thank you. That's the state of the world from NPR. Real quick, you just heard vital on-the-ground reporting from two countries at opposite sides of a war. NPR sends people to places like that because it's important to see what's happening for ourselves in order to report it accurately to you.

Thank you.

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