Netanyahu: The Army Needs Rehabilitation and Rearming… Biden: No U.S. Troops Will Be Sent /  60 Days for Occupation to Withdraw, Not the Resistance… Strike on Air Force Commander in Tel Aviv

 November 27, 2024

The political editor wrote

This morning, a ceasefire came into effect between the resistance and the occupying army. The agreement, as published by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, is the only available version of the terms. Although the source is the occupation itself, the text can be described as a “softened” version of UN Resolution 1701 from 2006. The agreement is limited to the area south of the Litani River, with no mention of the northern areas, except for the deployment of the Lebanese Army at crossing points (noting that the Lebanese Army is already present). There is no mention of any agreement to disarm Hezbollah or dismantle its arsenal outside the Litani region – neither explicitly nor implicitly. Additionally, the agreement does not specify any role for the international forces (UNIFIL) regarding security responsibilities in southern Lebanon, leaving this exclusively to the Lebanese Army. The five-member committee handling complaints about violations is a modified version of the 1996 April Understanding Monitoring Committee, and an expanded version of the Tripartite Committee established after 2006. Much of what was reported in Israeli media about the agreement, which was widely accepted as fact by Lebanese outlets, does not appear in the final version of the agreement.

It seems that when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed the U.S. of his intention to reach a ceasefire, his ground operation had reached its absolute limit, and the occupying entity was faced with a choice: either stop the war or escalate it. The outstanding performance of the resistance is what led Netanyahu to opt for ending the war, which lowered Israel’s expectations in the agreement compared to earlier statements.

Netanyahu addressed the reasons behind his acceptance or request of the ceasefire. He boasted about global praise for his accomplishments even as he faces arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court. He issued threats against Iran, Syria, and boasted about targeting Yemen, all while ignoring his army’s utter failure, backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, to secure the passage of even a single ship through the Red Sea, blocked by Yemen. After a string of falsehoods, Netanyahu finally admitted the true reason for requesting a ceasefire: the army is exhausted, in need of rehabilitation and rearming, having lost much of its weaponry and ammunition. Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden’s key message was clear: no U.S. troops would be sent, contrary to previous reports claiming the deployment of hundreds of U.S. soldiers to oversee the implementation of the agreement. Notably, the agreement includes a 60-day deadline for the occupation to withdraw to the Blue Line and engage in negotiations over border disputes, but there is no deadline for Hezbollah’s withdrawal of its regular military units from south of the Litani River.

On the eve of the ceasefire’s implementation, the occupation launched dozens of destructive airstrikes across the south, Bekaa, southern suburbs, and even Beirut, while the resistance targeted settlements in the Galilee, reaching Haifa and Tel Aviv, where it announced the targeting of the Israeli Air Force commander with drone strikes.