Our Bureau
New Delhi
India welcomed the decision of ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on Wednesday. In its statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the decision echoed India’s stance of de-escalation in the region.
“We welcome the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that has been announced. We have always called for de-escalation, restraint and return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy. We hope these developments will lead to peace and stability in the wider region,” the statement said.
Earlier in the day, US President Joe Biden announced that he spoke to the Prime Ministers of Lebanon and Israel, who have accepted the US proposal to end the “devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.”
US President Joe Biden announced the news in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“Today, I have good news to report from the Middle East. I have spoken to the Prime Ministers of Lebanon and Israel. And I am pleased to announce: They have accepted the United States’ proposal to end the devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah”, he wrote.
Backing the American President, in a statement issued by Israel, it was noted, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke this evening with US President Joe Biden and thanked him for the US involvement in achieving the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon and for the understanding that Israel maintains freedom of action in enforcing it.”
In his speech earlier in the day, President Biden said, “For nearly 14 months, a deadly conflict raged across the border that separates Israel and Lebanon, a conflict that began the day after the October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel”.
He reiterated, “Let’s be clear, Israel did not launch this war. The Lebanese people did not seek that war either, nor did the United States”.
Biden said, “Since the war with Hezbollah began, over 70,000 Israelis have been forced to live as refugees in their own country, helplessly watching their homes, their businesses, their communities as they’re bombarded and destroyed. Over 300,000 Lebanese people have also been forced to live as refugees in their own country, and the war imposed on them by Hezbollah. All told, this has been the deadliest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in decades”.
He said that lasting security for the people of Israel and Lebanon cannot be achieved only on the battlefield, and thus US worked with the governments of Israel and Lebanon to forge a ceasefire, to bring a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to a close.
“Under the deal reached today, effective at 4 a.m. tomorrow local time (US), the fighting across the Lebanese-Israeli border will end. This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities”, US President Joe Biden said.
“Over the next 60 days, the Lebanese Army and state security forces will deploy to take control of their territory once again. Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon will not be allowed to be rebuilt. And over the next 60 days, Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces. And civilians, civilians on both sides, will soon be able to safely return to their communities and begin to rebuild their homes, their schools, their farms, their businesses, and their very lives”, he announced.
