UPDATE - Israel’s security cabinet approves cease-fire agreement with Lebanon

ADDS MORE REMARKS FROM BIDEN, BACKGROUND

By Anadolu staff

JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli security cabinet approved a cease-fire deal with Lebanon late Tuesday to end a devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

US President Joe Biden confirmed that both Israel and Lebanon agreed to the deal, which will take effect at 4 a.m. local time (0200GMT) Wednesday.

“The Security Cabinet, this evening, in a 10-1 vote, approved the US proposal for a cease-fire arrangement in Lebanon,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

“Israel appreciates the US contribution to the process and maintains its right to act against any threat to its security,” the statement added.

Under the cease-fire deal, Biden told the press, fighting between Israeli forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah group across the Lebanon-Israel border will stop early Wednesday, according to Israel’s Army Radio.

Biden said the US alongside France and other allies have “pledged to work with Israel and Lebanon to ensure that this arrangement is fully implemented.”

He maintained that there will be no US troops on the ground in southern Lebanon.

Biden also said that “over the coming days” the US alongside Türkiye, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and other countries “will make another push” for a cease-fire in Gaza that will end the Israeli offensive there and lead to the release of the over 100 hostages who remain there.

He added that Washington also “remains prepared to conclude a set of” what he called “historic deals with Saudi Arabia” which include a security pact and economic assurances “together with a credible pathway for establishing a Palestinian state and the full normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a desire they both have.”

Israel has escalated airstrikes in Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets as part of year-long warfare against the Lebanese group since the start of the Gaza war last year.

More than 3,760 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, with nearly 15,700 injured and over 1 million displaced since last October, according to Lebanese health authorities.​​​​​​​

Israel expanded the conflict by launching a ground assault into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1 this year.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio