Is Lebanon included? The country that hopes for the end of the US-Iran, although he doubts | Israel attacks Lebanon News

Beirut, Lebanon – On Monday morning, people in Lebanon woke up again an armistice agreement. The agreement announced between the United States and Iran also includes Lebanon – according to Iranian and Pakistani officials – but the statements of Israeli officials cast doubt on whether the war that has been ravaging southern Lebanon since 2023 is over.

Television footage on Monday showed Lebanese people returning to their homes in the southern part of the country, although officials warned anyone from border villages not to return until security was clear.

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Others, however, have little to fall back on.

Ali Saleh, a 55-year-old from the southern village of Jwaya, has been displaced from the stadium in Beirut since early March.

“I’m not going back home,” he told Al Jazeera. “My house was affected and you know the financial situation is difficult at the moment.”

Lebanon included

On March 2, Israel escalated its war in Lebanon for the second time in less than two years. The development came just hours after the pro-Iranian Shia group Hezbollah fired six rockets at Israel, its first response to more than 10,000 violations by Israel of the 2024 ceasefire. Hezbollah launched the attack after the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader on February 28 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening of the US-Israel war on Iran.

Since then, Israel has killed at least 3,783 people in Lebanon and 11,699 injuries. More than 1.2 million were displaced in the south, areas south of Beirut and villages in the Bekaa Valley. Villages have been destroyed by the Israeli army, which do great work of southern Lebanon.

In recent weeks, evacuation orders and Israeli bombings in Tire and Nabatieh have caused widespread destruction in the two most populated southern regions. The Lebanese army announced on Monday that people should be careful when returning home, while Lebanese officials said people from border villages should not return home.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said the agreement between the US and Iran announced an “immediate and permanent end to military operations in all areas, including in Lebanon”.

The announcement was welcomed by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun – who has been trying to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty in the country. Aoun said that the Lebanese people are now waiting for “this understanding to be translated into practical measures that bring a definitive end to the violence and pave the way for stability, security, recovery and reconstruction”.

The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament and a close ally of Hezbollah, Nabih Berri, praised the agreement and various groups in the region for their role in achieving this, including Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

He also thanked Iran and the US for including a clause “forbidding Israeli aggression against all of Lebanon, defending its sovereignty throughout its territory”.

Another ceasefire?

Despite the fear, many Lebanese are returning home.

“People started returning to their villages and communities and now they are waiting for the full implementation of the ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israel from the areas they occupied,” Qassem Kassir, a Lebanese political analyst told Al Jazeera. “People can’t properly read the current situation.”

This is not the first time that a ceasefire has been declared between Lebanon and Israel. The November 2024 agreement called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon and an end to hostilities, while Hezbollah was to abandon its presence north of the Litani River.

But Israel has not stopped firing in Lebanon, and Hezbollah – backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – has reportedly begun preparing for another war. Israel has not withdrawn its troops, continuing to maintain a five-point border between Israel and Lebanon.

Hezbollah has repeatedly stated that it will not allow the situation to return to March 2, Israel has the right to attack and Hezbollah has no right to respond.

On April 16, US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel. The announcement ended the attacks on central Beirut and reduced the number of protests in the Beirut suburbs, although Israel has attacked them since then, including on Sunday. But the war in southern Lebanon continued.

On June 3, Israel and Lebanon agreed to end the war after direct talks between the two countries. But the declaration did not work as Israel continued to attack Lebanon and Hezbollah continued to fire rockets at Israeli forces inside Lebanon and across the border.

Israel opposes it

Questions remain about whether the two sides will honor the ceasefire.

As of Monday afternoon, Hezbollah had not taken any action since announcing the US-Iran deal, according to Reuters.

But Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli jet hit a car in southern Lebanon, killing its driver.

Israeli officials have met the announcement of the US-Iran deal with indifference. Political leaders have repeatedly insisted that they will not accept any threat from Lebanon, and will continue to attack Hezbollah if they see fit.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I are following a clear plan to keep the Israeli army in security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, without setting a time limit, in order to protect the borders and villages of Israel from jihadist elements,” the Minister of Defense of Israel, Israel Katz, said on Monday. “We oppose the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanon, despite all the current and future challenges.”

Experts have expressed skepticism about the deal.

“Netanyahu may come up with a lot of surprises, and he may have an electronic tour with Trump, where he tries to follow through on his agenda,” Karim Safieddine, who is not based at the Tahrir Institute, told Al Jazeera.

Kassir, a political expert, said that he felt that the new settlement was different and that the main battle was over. However, he insisted that there is work to be done before normal life can resume in Lebanon.

“No one trusts the US or Israel,” adding that in order for Lebanon to have a long-term and stable security, it still needs “the withdrawal of Israel, the return of people to their villages” and a security policy that has national unity – unlike the division that exists in the work of Hezbollah in the country.