Committee monitoring Lebanon-Israel ceasefire holds 2nd meeting in Lebanon

Beirut (The Uttam Hindu): The five-member monitoring committee to supervise Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire held its second meeting at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura.

"The UNIFIL hosted the meeting, which was chaired by the US with the assistance of France and with the participation of the Lebanese Army and the Israel Defense Forces," the supervisory committee said in a statement on Wednesday, noting that it will hold regular meetings to achieve progress in implementing the ceasefire agreement and Resolution 1701. The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on November 27, putting an end to the confrontations that erupted on October 8, 2023, Xinhua news agency reported.

The agreement stipulates that Israel will withdraw from Lebanese territory within 60 days, with the Lebanese army deployed in the country's south to prevent any presence of weapons and militants south of the Litani River. The agreement also stipulates a mechanism for supervising its implementation headed by the US, with the participation of France, UNIFIL forces, and the Lebanese and Israeli armies.

Despite the ceasefire agreement, the Israeli army continues to carry out strikes in Lebanon, which, according to reports from official Lebanese media, ranged between machine gun fire, artillery shelling, bulldosing homes, and airstrikes, some of which resulted in deaths and injuries in southern and eastern Lebanon. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has violated the truce once after it said it was in response to the repeated Israeli attacks.