Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire begins with cautious calm

Video near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon showed military vehicles patrolling on the first day of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

The agreement, a rare diplomatic feat in a region racked by conflict for months, ended the deadliest confrontation between Israel and the militant group in years, but Israel is still fighting its other arch foe, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has said its military aim in Lebanon had been to ensure the safe return of about 60,000 Israelis who fled from their communities along the northern border when Hezbollah started firing rockets at them in support of Hamas in Gaza.

The agreement ended the deadliest confrontation between Israel and the militant group in years, but Israel is still fighting its other arch foe, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip.

Lebanon's army, tasked with ensuring the ceasefire lasts, said it was preparing to deploy to the south of the country, a region Israel heavily bombarded in its battle against Hezbollah, along with eastern cities and towns and the armed group's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said that Israel had not met its war aims in Lebanon after a ceasefire took effect.

Fadlallah said on a visit to Bint Jbeil that Israel had set large war aims in Lebanon that it had not met during the conflict.

A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah held after the two sides struck a deal brokered by the US and France, a rare feat of diplomacy in the Middle East, which has been wracked by two wars and several proxy conflicts for over a year.

The agreement, brokered by the US and France, promises to end a conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year.