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THE UN PEACEKEEPING force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, saying it has begun adjusting operations to the “new situation”.
The ceasefire, which into effect overnight after a US-brokered deal was approved on both sides, appears to be holding.
“We will continue performing our mandated tasks, and we have already begun adjusting our operations to the new situation,” UNIFIL said in a statement, adding that peacekeepers “stand ready to support Lebanon and Israel in this new phase”.
“We will cooperate with all relevant partners to make the cessation of hostilities work,” it said.
In Lebanon, more than 900,000 people fled their homes in recent weeks, according to the UN, as Israel pounded the country, focusing in particular on areas where Hezbollah holds sway.
Today residents in cars heaped with belongings began streaming back towards southern Lebanon, despite warnings from the Israeli and Lebanese militaries that they should stay away from certain areas.
If it holds, the ceasefire would bring an end to nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated in mid-September into all-out war and threatened to pull Hezbollah’s patron, Iran, and Israel’s closest ally, the US, into a broader regional conflagration.
However, just yesterday, Israeli warplanes carried out the most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs since the start of the conflict and issued a record number of evacuation warnings.
At least 24 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities, as Israel signalled it aims to keep pummelling Hezbollah before the ceasefire is set to take hold at 4am local time on Wednesday.
Another huge air strike shook Beirut shortly after the ceasefire was announced.
The Israeli army has announced restrictions on people’s movements in south Lebanon after dark.
Residents will be barred from travelling south of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres from the border, between 3pm GMT and 5am GMT tomorrow. They will also be barred from returning to villages the army has ordered evacuated.
US President Joe Biden announced the ceasefire agreement, which means Israeli forces get to hold their positions but “a 60-day period will commence in which the Lebanese military and security forces will begin their deployment towards the south”, a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters.
Then Israel will begin a phased withdrawal without a vacuum forming that Hezbollah or others could rush into, the official said.
The United States is Israel’s key ally and military backer, and Biden hailed the deal as “good news” and a “new start” for Lebanon.
Netanyahu thanked Biden for his involvement in brokering the deal, under whose terms Israel will maintain freedom to act against Hezbollah should it pose any new threat.
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Interesting photo of the two women driving around with a terrorist flag. They look ecstatic despite all the bombing from both sides.
@Marvin Dollery: In the ‘terrorist flags’ stakes, it doesn’t compare with the flag of Israel. Hamas and Hezbollah could only dream of inflicting the kind of carnage that Israel has wreaked on civilian populations in the past year.
@Brendan O’Brien: I see you sympathise with a terrorist group now. Not surprised.
@Marvin Dollery: No: unlike you, I condemn all terrorism, including state terrorism.
@Brendan O’Brien: I don’t believe it. Brendan is starting to make some sense on the journal. After seeing the absolute blasphemy he has been writing on here for months. Well done Brendan.
@Brendan O’Brien: Unlike me? Did I side with any one group? I merely pointed out the truth about the cover image – that civilians are celebrating the presence of a terrorist group despite the violence and death they are bringing to their Country. Do you not see that? Or do you refuse to see it?
@Marvin Dollery: One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter! We had many ourselves, some of us are grand children and great grandchildren of those deemed terrorists by the oppressive powers! War is never the answer, but if people are suffering and no one is listening, what choices are left
UNIFIL is a lightly armed force of 10,000 who Israel allow with limited numbers and only light armaments. The IDF has struggled with Hezbollah since 1982. The IDF has massive air support, tanks. APCs, artillery and thousands of troops. Hezbollah fought the IDF and its proxy and they ran away in panic in 2000. Hezbollah fought the IDF to a standstill in 2006. The IDF withdrew and used UNIFIL as a figleaf. UNIFIL was to be strengthened and allowed to deploy artillery etc. Israel changed its mind. Tweaked the mandate a little. The failure of UNIFIL is down to the failure of joint Israeli and Lebanese policy. Israeli interference in Lebanon destabilised the country and created the conditions for Hezbollah in the South.
How could a small lightly armed force like UNIFIL achieve what Israel failed to do with unlimited military resources. UNIFIL is a peace keeping force not a kamikaze unit. The IDF failed to unseat Hezbollah in 2006. They failed to defend the people of southern Israel on October 7th. The current Israeli government has failed the Israeli people. Israeli governments have been failing to make peace but its all UNIFILs fault.
@Steo: If you believe all that, congrats, you’ve some imagination.
@Steo: I think the fact you ignore how Hezbollah violates the sovereignty of Lebanon in the first instance is telling. Not mentioning how they co-opted an entire country and dragged it into wars to facilitate the Iranian mullahs is very odd.
@Tristan Ua Ceithearnaigh: Palestinian refugees overthrew the Lebanese government soon after they went there as refugees after 1948. Lebanon has a law that they signed into their constitution, that Palestinians are not allowed to enter Lebanon en mass like they did after the 1948. Palestinians did the exact same thing to Jordan. You see people asking the question all the time, why aren’t any of the surrounding nations helping the Palestinians by letting them seek refuge? Well these countries don’t have a short memory, of what happened to Lebanon and Jordan. They don’t want the same to happen to them. Another example, in 1992, 321 Palestinian refugees were accepted by Denmark. The Danish government checked how they all of them got on in Denmark in 2019. 64% had obtained a criminal record.
@honey badger: Stop talking nonsense. Hezbollah are Lebanese. They are a large part of the Lebanese political spectrum. The vast majority of Southern Lebanese people support them. The actions of the occupation forces 1982-2000 of the IDF and their criminal proxies drove the people of Southern Lebanon into their arms. I stated a few facts pertaining to UNIFIL and Lebanon. Nothing more. You thinking you can perceive what my views are says a lot. Nothing good.
@Steo:
No, Lebanon allowed the “Palistine arab” in to their country on humanitarian grounds,
The palos started acting the bx attacking Isreal from Lebanon and the Isrealis invaded.
Lebanon was a prosperous country we’re Christians and Muslims lived in peace. Thanks to that decision to help the palos the country is now a basket case.
Jordon were smarter they rounded them up and drove the pallos across the border.
@H Woo: The subject here is the context of the current Lebanon situation, UNIFIL, and Hezbollah. The PLO was expelled from Lebanon in 1983.
@Steo: Sound. I hope the good people of Southern Lebanon are only delighted that Hezbollah landed a war on them. I’d say the celebrations must be immense!
It’s great that there will be peace in Lebanon. But one has to ask how exactly it’s ok to sit down and hold peace talks with terrorists is all good but any mention of holding peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and it’s wrong. The mind boggles.
@Ger Whelan: This was a case of terrorists talking to terrorists. In the Russia–Ukraine conflict only one side is terroristic.
@Brendan O’Brien: Ah so the only time you can negotiate with a terrorist is when you are a terrorist? So explain the good Friday agreement? Were the British terrorists?, how about when the US negotiated a deal with the Taliban? Were the US terrorists?. Doesn’t make sense to me at all Brendan what you just said unless you agree the British and Americans are terrorists as peaceful negotiation between the British and ira and the Americans and the Taliban did happen didn’t they?
@Ger Whelan: As expected, little Putinist shill Ger Whelan is out to spew his latest propaganda. Tell me Ger, what’s your big idea for a “peace treaty” which allows Ukraine to take back all the land that’s rightfully theirs? Ger can’t take any criticism of his nonsense so he starts accusing people of having multiple profiles with no proof. We should start calling him Grigory Whelan since he’s either a Russian bot or a Russophile turncoat living in Ireland. Do you know how peace treaties work you tool? Both sides have to have something to agree on. That doesn’t work for Russia and Ukraine when Russia’s demands are to steal large chunks of land and Ukraine’s demands are to get back their land, to be left alone and to have the right to join whatever organisations they want.
@Ger Whelan: I’m saying that there is no onus on a state to choose negotiation over self-defence when it is being attacked.
@Brendan O’Brien: No you said it was terrorists talking to terrorists. Now you’re changing what you said. Fact is negotiation could happen if they US want it to. And before you say Ukraine don’t want to negotiate don’t. The US are the ones calling the shots for Ukraine and to say otherwise is laughable. Zelensky only does as he’s told. Hence why he’s only now firing missiles into Russia after getting permission from the US, he also has gone very silent on his ” victory plan” for winning the war after it got shot down by the US also.
@Frank O’Hara: That rings pretty hollow from you when you have just advocated that Israel bomb Lebanon ‘back to the Stone Age’ (including the possible use of nuclear weapons!). Obviously you are not familiar with the concepts of human rights or human dignity, which apply to Palestinians, Lebanese and indeed Russians as much as to Israelis and Ukrainians.
@Brendan O’Brien: I am, I just view Ukrainians and Israelis as morally superior people compared to those who support Hamas, Hezbollah and Russia. Ukraine and Israel were illegally attacked and invaded and I believe that they should have the right to respond with as much force as possible. If you wave a Hamas, Hezbollah or Z flag, you deserve to be blown up into smithereens.
@Brendan O’Brien: Careful Brendan you’ll be labelled Pro Putin for not agreeing with Frank O’Hara. I have muted him, but I can guarantee he’s replied with my comment verbally bashing me and saying I’m siding with Putin just for mentioning peace. Thus proving my original point.
A year-long war, and suddenly ,less than a week after Trump gets elected, a ceasefire is declared.
Just an observation.
@Tristan Ua Ceithearnaigh: Israel invaded Lebanon less than two months ago.
UN is an absolute joke, they allowed hezbollah to do what they wanted, the ceasefire includes that the Lebanese army police the southern zone, a clear admission of the failure of the UN. The UN is led by a Marxist shill
@Bertie: How are they Marxist? Do you want the Israelis to police a completely separate sovereign nation? The IDF are evil but I wouldn’t expect anything less from them with what they believe in their Torah and Talmud. What they believe about the ‘Goyim’. What sexual acts you can do to non Jews ‘as long as they’re under 3 years old’. Or ‘Jesus Christ is in hell boiling in pig sh**.’ This is all written in their holy books. Marx was a Jew by the way so maybe a contradiction on your part.
Pretty disappointing stuff. The only “ceasefire” that should have happened was a full and unconditional surrender from Hezbollah. Israel shouldn’t have given into pressure from weasels like Macron, Starmer and Meloni. Israel has nuclear weapons, they should have threatened Hezbollah with them. Hopefully they jump the gun before the 60 days is up so Israel has another chance to bomb them back to the Stone Age once and for all. The only good Hezbollah member is a dead one. More pager activity should be planned as well to blow them up through their communication devices.
@Frank O’Hara: Probably not the most prudent course of action if they decided to drop a nuke on their own doorstep. Cutting off your nose to spite your face.
@Trevor McCormack: Yes: a thoroughly brainless comment from Frank, who obviously has no problem with the concept of ‘nuking’ civilian populations and has never heard of radiation.
@Trevor McCormack: Israel has small nuclear warheads that only have a blast radius of about 60-80km. One of those could easily have been dropped on Lebanon to force them to surrender while making sure that towns in North Israel are not affected in any way.
@Brendan O’Brien: Read my comment to Trevor below thanks.
@Frank O’Hara: You do realise, that bombing these countries is going to create millions of refugees. Now ask yourself where these refugees are going to be sent. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE etc. don’t want anything to do with them after the Lebanon and Jordan incidents a few decades ago. They are going to coke to Europe. You do realise Frank that supporting Israel, is going against Europe. Why not leave them over in the Middle East to do whatever they hell they want, as long as their not interfering with the West. But no, the escalation and displacement is going to cause them to come here and put the nail in the coffin in Europe. I can absolutely guarantee you, Europe would be a much better place is Israel was never created in 1948. Iraq, Syria, Jordan have all been destabilised.
@Maximilian Kolbe: We don’t have to take them either. If you have a problem, blame European leaders for their open borders policy and not Israel. They are fighting against pure terror who want to see them destroyed. Europe should pressure Arab countries to take in these refugees. Israel has always had a right to exist for centuries and I’m glad that Israel had that right confirmed in 1920 with the San Remo Conference. There is no such thing as “Palestinian.” They were only created in 1964 by the Soviet Union to expand their hegemony in the Middle East. You should be grateful that Israel exists, it’s the only Western democracy in a sea of backwards Islamism. What exactly do you suggest replacing Israel with, you dope? There’s no other people with a legitimate claim to the land.
@Frank O’Hara: You’re so lost it’s unreal. Who owns the NGOs putting these refugees in our country? I’ll let you figure that out for yourself. The majority of Israelis are not even semites. They are Eastern Europe Ashkenazi Jews. DNA testing is illegal in Israel for this reason. It was always going to happen that the Arabs surrounding them were going to hate them, as they took houses off Palestinians who lived their for generations. That’s not the only reason they hate them, they hate them for the same reason Europeans hate them and hated them for centuries. Why were the expelled from Spain? England? Russia? Germany? France? Italy? Austria? Ukraine? I will run out of characters if I name all of them. It makes no sense that a European can be a Zionist, unless they are Jewish.
@Frank O’Hara: I agree that their values are completely backwards. I’m not disputing that. I’m not suggesting Israel gets replaced by anything, that’s never going to happen. They have nuclear and are a world superpower. Frank how can you be a ‘goyim’ and be a Zionist? If you think what the Arabs believe is backwards (which it is), wait until you see what is believed in Judaism.
@Maximilian Kolbe: You’re just spreading falsehoods and you’re not even good at it. The irony is not lost at the fact that you share your username with a Franciscan priest who helped shelter 2,000 Jews from being killed. All of the NGOs are run by antisemites like yourself who hate Jews and want to encourage refugees to remain in a permanent state of victimhood and well as fleeing to Europe in order to make Israel look bad. 60% of Jews in Israel are Mizrahi meaning that they were expelled and ethnically cleansed from Arab countries and moved to Israel. Only about 30% of Jews are Ashkenazi so lies again from you. The rest are either indigenous to the Holy Land or Yemenite Jews who are considered separate to the rest of the Mizrahi Jews. Lies again, DNA testing is not illegal in Israel.
@Maximilian Kolbe: More lies buddy. The Israelis are only taking back property and land that is rightfully theirs. The Jordanian army ethnically cleansed every single Jewish person from Judea and Samaria in 1948 and their neighbourhoods in Hebron, Nablus, Gush Etzion and Bethlehem were completely destroyed. They are now reclaiming these places and resettling them. Remember, there is no such thing as a “Palestinian”, they were only created in 1964. They were expelled from all the countries you listed because of rabid antisemitism, plain and simple. I am a proud and Zionist who loves Israel and it’s not my problem if you’re offended by that. Israel is the most moral and most advanced country in the world when it comes to safeguarding Western Judeo-Christian values.
@Frank O’Hara: “judeo-Christian” values. Did you miss the part where they say in their Talmud that “Jesus Christ is boiling in pig sh**”. Judaism and Christianity are polar opposite religions. And how are NGO owners anti semites if they are Jews? Why are they trying to destroy Europe. Why did Swedish Jew Barbara Spectre say Jews will be at the centre of Europe becoming multi cultural? Look up her interview and get back to me. It’s only 5 minutes. If you are so against backward ideology coming into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa (which I am too), why are you sympathising with the ones putting them here? What happened in WW2 and why has Europe changed into a multicultural hellhole since, is someone or some group seeking revenge on Europeans? I wonder.
@Maximilian Kolbe: Again more lies from you. Have you even read the Talmud or are you just repeating more antisemitic propaganda because such a thing is never said. Stop pretending that Yeshu is Jesus, he’s not. Yeshu was a sorcerer was a bad man who tried to convert Jewish people in apostasy and was executed in 63BCE. That’s the facts of the matter. If all of the heads of these NGOs are Jewish (which they are not), then why do they spew so much antisemitic bile and lie about the State of Israel? Why are you also telling falsehoods about what Barbara Spectre said? She was warning people about how Muslim immigrants as well as people who view Jews as “the other” were causing the rise in antisemitism. She was simply pointing out the facts that Europe has done a terrible job at integration.
@Frank O’Hara: An anti-Christ just like them. I know what you are now. Frank o Harastein
@Frank O’Hara: Barbara Spectre – “Europe is not going to be the monolithic societies that they once were. They have to learn how to be multicultural and Jews will be resented for their leading role.” Explain that one then anti-Christ.
@Maximilian Kolbe: You wicked Islamist. I hope that someday our government deports all of you leeches. You tell falsehoods about the Talmud and you tell lies about Israel. You have no honesty because it goes against your narrative. Jesus Christ was a Jew, never forget that. Our Saviour was Jewish so when you spit on Jews, you spit on Jesus you heathen. The day of reckoning will come will come for you and I hope you are ready to meet your maker. There is a special place in Hell for lying antisemites like yourself.
I see Assad and Putins soldiers are in a spot of bother today.
Hopefully they don’t let them regroup, vermin fanatics.
@Basildon Joe: The IDF?
@darragh doyle: no, the Islamic Palestinian terrorists that the UN have spent years pretending to police, they were ran out of Kuwait when they sided with Sadam, they were ran out of Jordan when they tried to oust the king, they ended up in Lebanon and have destroyed that country, and people wonder why Egypt won’t allow Palestinian refugees
@Bertie: Everything you said is correct. My issue is that Israel are going to make the refugees and they will be sent here to Europe. All of them will want to come to Ireland too because we seem to love them over here despite their values and ideals. So the problem here is Israel. I don’t believe in a state for them, I’m anti Zionist. If it wasn’t for Israel, the Palestinians could stay where they are and do whatever the hell they want, couldn’t care less how they live or govern themselves. But instead, Israel is forcing them out and they will come to Europe.
@Maximilian Kolbe:
Jordon, Egypt and Syria got rid of them as well.
The Hump from the Dump.
have your say