Israel has agreed to a truce in Lebanon. Here's what that means

[moniss]

This is the headline for a CNN article posted in the evening of 11/26/24. It gives a few of the basic general steps that are to happen during the 60 day ceasefire. Notably Hezbollah is to withdraw to north of the Litani River and Israel is to withdraw ground forces from Lebanon. We'll see. But it is notable that, at least in this reporting of the details, an important thing is missed. One would get the impression that as long as Hezbollah withdraws north of the Litani River that Israel is going to cease activity in Lebanese territory. But read it again. The agreement appears to only address ground forces. Does the "ceasefire" allow for continued airspace violations by Israel?

Oh wait a minute that's right I forgot. According to some supporters of the Israeli government from around the world there have never been violations of UN Resolution 1701 by Israel. The constant harangue is always that only Hezbollah has been violating 1701 over the years. But golly we finally find out further down in the CNN article that the harangue wasn't factual. My goodness Mr. Peabody do you mean someone else was also in violation? An excerpt from the article:

" Meanwhile, Hezbollah has agreed to withdraw its forces north of the Litani river, some 40 kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon frontier at its furthest point. It made that concession in 2006 but violated it, building a vast underground infrastructure in an area where its members are part of the social fabric. Israel also breached the 2006 agreement by conducting near daily overflights in Lebanon. "


My goodness after all this time we finally see an evenhanded statement in a CNN article. Maybe because it was later in the evening it slipped past the editors because they were attending an "indoctrination" meeting with higher ups about how to better bestow praise on the benevolent actions of the ruling American oligarchs. But I wanted to give kudos to the woman who spoke the truth in an evenhanded way in this CNN article. She'll probably be fired by e-mail as soon as the editors realize the prior narrative has been breached.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/26/middleeast/israel-lebanon-hezbollah-ceasefire-explainer-intl-latam/index.html

[Frasier Balzov]

1. Maybe satellite surveillance has improved enough

so that overflights won't be necessary.

But I take it that the overflights considered to be a breach by Israel were to verify compliance.

[moniss]

2. Things went beyond that to things

like harassing the Lebanese forces etc. and it doesn't matter for what reason they violated the airspace and the agreement/Resolution. They were violations and they were repeatedly called out on it and this stuff was a daily occurrence. It's like if your neighbor is out illegally firing his shotgun at midnight and violating the law it doesn't mean you get to violate the law too just because he is. But as is typical in the Middle East these agreements are never made by the sides with the intent to comply but rather to play games and jockey for advantage for the next go round.

Meanwhile the world gets to pick up the tab for cleaning up the aftermath again and again decade after decade. The old colonial parties that have a huge responsibility for creating this mess to begin with sit and act like they are "honest mediators for peace" when they are still about jockeying for influence and power. It's garish at this point that they don't just come out and admit it because any review of the history from before WW 1 forward shows the British, French and the US backstabbing each other and the people in the region and making multiple promises to multiple parties over the same lands all in an effort to have the big 3 carving things up and calling shots. So the British for example made several agreements with Arabs for their help in WW 1 while making completely contradictory agreements with the leaders of the burgeoning Zionist movement.

The documents from the time show the British acknowledging these deceptions and worrying about people finding out and the ramifications. People like T. E. Lawrence, other British officials/officers and even some in the French sphere of diplomacy were warning about the lasting damage and conflict that would occur by lying to everyone involved and then trying to claim late that "we didn't do it". So here we are today and of course our Western media isn't going to tell us about the long history of treachery and lies in the region on the part of the Western nations. So we sort of end up with this media meme of "It's not right that the Arabs don't trust us. We're good people and they are just being obstinate in refusing to believe our assurances and promises. It's their own fault for not saying yes to our proposals."

The countries in the Middle East would have every good reason to never believe another word ever uttered by a Western nation government. It's like when the British say to the Irish "Come on you can trust us." Getting lied to over and over and over by the same people deserves to earn constant distrust. The world came and meddled in Middle Eastern affairs long long ago and they haven't stopped since. Now here we are. A total mess just like was predicted over a century ago. It was also easily predictable for those who actually knew a fair amount about the region but higher ups who knew little claimed to know better. It hasn't changed.

[Beastly Boy]

3. To remind you, the truce reiterates full compliance with UN Resolution 1701.

So before hurling unfounded accusations, it would be helpful to refer to Resolution 1701, don't you think?

For instance, Resolution 1701, like the current cease fire agreement, only makes references to the ground forces and does not specifically address air space. Therefore, it would not be a violation of the current agreement, as it has not been a violation of Resolution 1701, for Israel to cross Lebanon's air space. Specific to this agreement, Israel reserves the right to respond militarily to any of Hezbollah's violations of the current cease fire agreement, an item that Resolution 1701 did not provide for. Oh, did I mention that Hezbollah violated Resolution 1701 the minute the first terrorist stepped foot south of Litani River back in 2006, and has been in violation of this resolution ever since then? The article you cited did.

So one who would, after reading the article, get an impression to the contrary is obviously not paying attention, intentionally so or otherwise. And the presumption of some supporters of the Israeli government from around the world that you made references to may be spot on.

[Igel]

4. Reports are that within hours of the new ceasefire what was Allah's Party doing?

Trying to move back into villages that had been cleared.

Israeli soldiers fired warning shots. Gatz said next time the measures should be more stern. The IDF reportedly demurred. It's unclear how that will play out.

[Beastly Boy]

5. So, for the record and for future references, Hezbollah is

in violation of the cease fire agreement as of today, November 27, 2024.

And, as per the US letter of guarantees that accompanies the cease fire agreement, "should the terms of the agreement be broken in southern Lebanon, Israel reserves the right to act at any time".

So noted.