The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect after a night of heavy fighting, but the guns did not fall silent. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported Israeli artillery shelling Khiam and Dibbine in southern Lebanon less than an hour after the truce began, while intense Israeli reconnaissance activity was reported over the Rashaya region and the western slopes of Jabal al-Sheikh.
At least 2,196 people have been killed and 7,185 injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2, underscoring how much damage has piled up before any pause could hold. In the hour before the ceasefire took effect, there were dozens of Israeli air strikes across the south of Lebanon, and on the night the truce began fireworks and celebratory gunfire were audible across Beirut, a city trying to read hope into a war still unfolding.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the agreement and said he hoped it would pave the way for negotiations toward a long-term solution and contribute to broader efforts for a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region. He also urged everyone to fully respect the ceasefire and comply with international law at all times.
The agreement comes against the backdrop of the wider israel iran war dynamic and the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Hezbollah continued to claim attacks on Israeli troops inside Lebanon and across the border. Israel’s military said it struck 380 Hezbollah targets across the country in the last 24 hours, showing how quickly both sides are still defining victory even as they publicly accept the truce.
Abed Abou Shhadeh said the deal is extremely problematic for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and for Israelis who were promised absolute victory, while people in northern Israel were deeply disappointed and did not expect Donald Trump to announce the ceasefire. He said Netanyahu is now fighting over the story of what happened and how Trump forced Israel into a ceasefire while Hezbollah remains armed and close to the northern border.
The political pressure does not stop at the frontier. G7 finance ministers meeting in Washington said it is urgent to limit the global economic costs of a prolonged conflict in the Middle East and reaffirmed the pressing need to move toward a lasting peace, a reminder that the ceasefire is being judged not only by whether it holds overnight, but by whether it can stop the war from spreading its costs farther afield.
