Benjamin Netanyahu
Jerusalem/Fiuggi/Washington: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced bringing a ceasefire outline with Lebanon’s Hezbollah for the Israeli cabinet’s approval, today.
“The length of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon. We will enforce the agreement and respond forcefully to any violation. We will continue united until victory,” he said.
The 60-day ceasefire deal was an intensive diplomatic effort by the United States and France, working with Israel and Lebanon, over many months. Throwing light on the nature of the ceasefire agreement just before Netanyahu’s ceasefire announcement, the US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told reporters in Fiuggi, Italy, that they worked for many months on getting an agreement between Israel and Lebanon on the effective implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that would result in the withdrawal of any Israeli forces in Lebanon; the withdrawal of Hezbollah to the north, such that it couldn’t threaten Israel; the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces, so critical to the security of the state, to southern Lebanon, as well as UNIFIL; and an oversight mechanism to make sure that the agreements were – any agreements are being carried out and fulfilled.
However, given that in 60 days he won’t be in office anymore, Blinken said that he was “absolutely” committed to working with the incoming administration on this issue and everything that he was dealing with. “I had a good conversation with my successor-to-be, Senator Rubio, the other day,” he said.
It may be mentioned that President Joe Biden will be replaced by Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, after his victory in the Presidential elections. Senator Marco Rubio Blinken will replace Blinken as the next Secretary of State of the US.
Earlier yesterday, the USA had claimed that both Israel and Lebanon had made significant progress with getting towards a resolution, and Washington was continuing to work to try and get an agreement over the line. “I can tell you we are painfully aware because this has been an incredibly frustrating process – both [Israel and Lebanon] getting to a ceasefire and a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Lebanon and, also, the many rounds of negotiations to get a ceasefire in Gaza,” US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller had told journalists in Washington yesterday.
Tracing the history of the conflict, Blinken pointed out that Israel was in southern Lebanon for 18 years. It got out in 2000. Hezbollah came further to the fore. There was another conflict in 2006, and when Israel ended that conflict as a result of Hezbollah’s aggression, the international community through the Security Council explored the means of preventing this from happening again, and in particular, through Resolution 1701, making sure that Hezbollah would not be in a position to carry out more attacks against Israel. “Unfortunately, 1701 was never effectively implemented, and the result has been Hizballah [Hezbollah] has remained in a position where it could attack Israel and, as I said on October 8th, the day after October 7th, it again launched these attacks on Israel to such an extent that Israelis were forced out of their homes in northern Israel,” he said.
Netanyahu attributed the following three “main reasons” for the ceasefire:
- “The first reason is to focus on the Iranian threat, and I won’t expand on that.
- “The second reason is to give our forces a breather and replenish stocks. And I say it openly, it is no secret that there have been big delays in weapons and munitions deliveries. These delays will be resolved soon. We will receive supplies of advanced weaponry that will keep our soldiers safe and give us more strike force to complete our mission.
- “And the third reason for having a ceasefire is to separate the fronts and isolate Hamas.”
Netanyahu explained, “From day two of the war, Hamas was counting on Hezbollah to fight by its side. With Hezbollah out of the picture, Hamas is left on its own. We will increase our pressure on Hamas and that will help us in our sacred mission of releasing our hostages”.
The Israeli Prime Minister claimed that with the United States’ full understanding, Israel maintains full freedom of military action. “If Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to arm itself, we will attack. If it tries to rebuild terrorist infrastructure near the border, we will attack. If it launches a rocket, if it digs a tunnel, if it brings in a truck carrying rockets, we will attack,” he elaborated.
He, however, reiterated his pledge to obliterate Hamas, bring home all hostages, and ensure that Gaza no longer posed a threat to Israel. He assured that then Israel would return the residents of the north back now safely.
“I promised you victory, and we will achieve victory,” Netanyahu said and made it loud and clear that the war would not end until Israel realized all its goals, including the return of the residents of the north safely home. “And I tell you, it will happen, just like it happened in the south,” he said. Virtually every single day Hezbollah launched projectiles into Israel, into northern Israel, since October 7, 2023. Addressing the residents of the north, he said he was proud of them and their perseverance and was “totally committed” to their security, to the rehabilitation of their communities, and to their future.
Netanyahu counted the seven fronts of the “War of Redemption”, into which Israel made “great” inroads.
The first front was Iran, which he termed “the head of the octopus”. He claimed Israel destroyed a major part of Iran’s air defence system and missile-manufacturing capabilities, and also it demolished a significant component of Iran’s nuclear programme.
“I am determined to do anything needed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. That threat has always been my top priority and is even more so today when you hear Iran’s leaders state over and over again their intention to obtain nuclear weapons. For me, removing that threat is the most important mission to ensure the existence and future of the State of Israel,” he said.
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In Gaza, Netanyahu said Israel dismantled the Hamas battalions, killed close to 20,000 terrorists, and brought 154 hostages back. “We are committed to bringing them all home, the 101 hostages still in Gaza, those who are still alive as well as the dead, and end the terrible anguish of their families. We are of course committed to completing the annihilation of Hamas,” he asserted.
Then he said in Judea and Samaria, Israel was taking out terrorists, destroying terrorist infrastructure, and operating in all of the “terror strongholds”.
In Yemen, he referred to the Israeli attack on the Houthis’ Port of Hodeida, “which the international coalition had not done”.
In Iraq, he said Israel successfully thwarted and was still thwarting many drone attacks, “and we have many challenges ahead”.
In Syria, Israel was “systematically “blocking attempts by Iran, Hezbollah and the Syrian army to transfer weapons to Lebanon. “Assad must understand that he is playing with fire,” he warned Syrian President Bashar al-Asad.
Speaking about the seventh front—Lebanon, Netanyahu pointed out that Hezbollah decided to attack Israel from Lebanon on October 8, 2023. “A year later, it is not the same Hezbollah. We have pushed them decades back. We eliminated Nasrallah, the axis of the axis. We have taken out the organization’s top leadership, we have destroyed most of their rockets and missiles, we have killed thousands of terrorists and we demolished their underground terror infrastructure abutting our border, the infrastructure they had been building for years,” he said. He mentioned Israel’s attacks on”strategic targets” throughout Lebanon that brought down dozens of “terror hi-rises” in Beirut’s Dahieh.
– global bihari bureau
