Already and this is this is the Daily OS.
This is the Daily OS. Oh, now it makes sense.
Good morning, and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday, the twenty eighth of November.
I'm Zara, I'm billy.
Yesterday a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbalah came into effect after thirteen months of fighting.
I spoke with the Prime Minister of Israel and Lebanon. I'm pleased to announce that their governments have accepted the United States proposal and the devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbolah.
The deal which you heard there being announced by US President Joe Biden, will see both parties required to retreat from their current positions over the next sixty days, and it marks a really major turning point in the conflict.
This is really huge news that happened yesterday. But before we actually discuss the details of the season deal, I think it's important to just take a step back and explain the context of the current conflict between Israel and hesblah. Yeah, what do we need to know? Okay?
So I think that a good starting point is just to distinguish exactly who we're talking about here, because there are concurrent conflicts happening across the Middle East, but today we're talking about Hezbollah and Israel, not to be confused with Hammas and Israel. So Hamas is based in Gaza, Hezbola is based in Lebanon.
So when we talk about this ceasefire deal, we're not talking about the war in Gaza.
No, we're not talking about Gaza specifically today, and we'll get to that a bit later. So we are talking about Hezballah As, I said, a group based in Lebanon, similar to Hamas. It is armed, backed and trained by Iran, and Australia classifies it as a terrorist organization. For the sake of I think understanding the nature of the deal that was agreed to yesterday, it's really important to highlight
that Hesbela is not the government of Lebanon. So in Gaza, Hamas is the governing party there, But in Lebanon there is a government that is made up of a whole host of different parties. Hes Bala has some seats in parliament, but it's by no means a majority. Now to go back to your question about the context in which this ceasefire has emerged, So the latest round of violence between hes Balah and Israel really dates back to October eighth
of twenty twenty three. Now, that's one day after Hamas launched its attack on Israel, and on that day Hesbola began firing rockets into Israel and it's said at the time that that was in solidarity with Hamas. So since that time October eighth last year, Hesbola attacks have killed at least seventy five people in Israel, that's according to Israeli authorities, and around sixty thousand Israelis in the north
of Israel have been displaced. In Lebanon, Israeli attacks have killed more than three thousand, five hundred people, that's according to Lebanese authorities. There around nine hundred thousand Lebanese people have been displaced due to these ongoing attacks. And then in September this year, Israel launched a ground invasion, so they put troops on the ground to launch an invasion,
a land invasion into Lebanon. A few months later, they also killed Hesboala's longtime leader, has Son Nostralla, And we did do that on a separate podcast, So I'll throw that link into today's show notes to give a bit more background as to what the nature of this conflict has looked like for the past couple of months.
And one more piece of context that I find helpful is understanding the geography of the situation. So Lebanon, we're talking about South Lebanon, Yeah, which borders the north of Israel.
Correct, Yeah, and that border is where all of this conflict has really centered upon.
Okay, So this conflict has been raging for over a year now, and you've just outlined the suffering and toll that it has taken. But yesterday, for the first time in thirteen months, a ceasefire was announced. What do we know about the details of that ceasefire? It's long awaited, Yeah, it really is. And what was interesting about the way
that this emerged. You know, over the past year, there have kind of been these slow reports that a ceasefire might be happening, but then it never really comes to fruition.
But this felt different from the beginning. So a couple of days ago, these reports first started emerging of a ceasefire between Hesbalah and Israel, and just on like I guess a media literacy level, what was interesting was that compared to previous times, there were actually details about the nature of that ceasefire that were being included in the reports, and to me, that signaled that this was different, that the details were being included in the reporting, that there
was a full structure out there as to what this deal would look like. And it turns out that it was different, and that this was the first time in thirteen months that a ceasefire was going to actually happen. We got confirmation yesterday that Israel's parliament had agreed to it, and then later that day the deal itself was announced by US President Joe Biden, and I think think it's important to highlight why he was the one that announced it,
and that's because this was a US broken deal. So the US has been trying to mediate these these fire deals across the region for, as I said, over a year now. But this is the first successful one between Hesbela and Israel, and it was broken by the US and also involved France. Right, Okay, so what are the details.
So essentially, over the next sixty days, both Israel and Hesbela will be required to retreat from their current positions.
So, just to be clear, it's not a ceasefire that is effective immediately, it's going to take about two.
Months for the full conditions to be met. It will take that period of time, but there is going to be a dramatic change in the way these two parties are relating to one another. So the sixty days is basically just to ensure that a vacuum doesn't get created when these powers retreat from their current spots. So at the moment, Hesbela and Israel are both, as you said, centered around that border in the south of Lebanon and
the north of Israel. What we know from this deal is that Hesbela will be required to move north, so to leave the south and to move north upwards into Lebanon, and that where they were will now be patrolled and basically regulated by the Lebanese Army and.
Who are not involved in Hesblon exactly.
So that's again distinguishing the fact that Lebanon's army is very different to Hesbela. And so the Lebanese army will now be in charge of southern Lebanon and they'll be responsible for ensuring that Hesbela infrastructure, so the physical infrastructure that they've been using is removed and can't be.
Rebuilt, Okay, So that is the conditions that HESBLA has to follow. Yeah, what about Israel.
Yeah, so, as I mentioned earlier, Israel's currently in Lebanon, or Israeli troops are in Lebanon, and so over the next sixty days they will have to withdraw from Lebanon. And as I said, this won't happen tomorrow or today. It's going to take some time for them to fully withdraw, and they've said that that will happen meaningfully once those Lebanese troops are in place.
We'll be back with this deep dive in just a moment, but first, here is a quick message from our sponsor. So I understand that the troops are starting to have to withdraw and that that process will take sixty days. But in terms of hostilities, is the deal that hostilities so the killing of either side immediately stops.
We don't have the actual details of what is enclosed in this ceasefire, but the understanding is that yes, there should be no more attacks from either side while this process takes place, and that this is the way to create what Biden has called like a meaningful change rather than something that just pauses overnight.
I think that's another interesting point when it comes to media literacy that you know, in journalism we always try to get the primary source, but when it comes to the ceasefire deal, we don't have.
That, No, we don't. So the most information has come from the US, both from President Biden but also a US official who spoke to a bunch of outlets. We've heard from Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime minister, we have heard from the Lebanese Prime minister, but we haven't actually got that document of what exactly has been agreed to. So we're really piecing this together based on a whole bunch of different sources, Okay.
And who will be responsible for enforcing this ceasefire agreement?
Yeah? And I mean that's the biggest question, right, Like everyone can agree to whatever they like, but if it's not enforced, what happens then? And according to Biden, that will be the job of the US and France. And I thought France was interesting because when we've spoken previously about ceasefire negotiations, whether that be with Hummas or with France, hasn't really featured very prominently at all.
I always think of Qatar as being a mediator, but maybe that's more in Gaza.
With US, that's more with Hummas and with Hesbella. Clearly France has played a big role. I do want to just make really clear, and this was something that Biden stressed. When we talk about enforcing the ceasefire, that's not about having US troops on the grounds. There's not going to be US troops standing at the border watching what happens, because President Biden said that he had made a commitment to the US public that there would be no troops
sent into this conflict. But in terms of what happens if the rules of the ceasefire are broken, here's what Biden said yesterday.
Let me be clear, if Hezblah or anyone else breaks the deal and pose a direct threat to Israel, then Israel retains the right to self defense consistent with international law.
We'll have to wait and see if this ceasefire holds, but for now, what have we heard from Israeli and Lebanese officials.
Broadly, both sides have welcomed the ceasefire. We heard a bit of reasoning as to why they got to this position from the Israeli side, Prime Minister Benjamin Nettania, who said that, and I'm quoting directly here, a good deal is a deal that is enforced, and we will enforce it. He also did say that the length of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon, so he's intimating there that if there are attacks from Hesbalah into Israel, that
Israel will respond on the flip side. In Lebanon, Prime Minister Najib McCarty said that the deal is quote a fundamental step towards establishing calm and stability in Lebanon and the return of the displaced to their homes and cities. And he's there referring to as I mentioned the fact that in these border towns, both on the Israeli and Lebanese side, people haven't been able to go home for over a year, and that this is the hope that that will change.
And before we go, I think that the question a lot of people will have is what impact does this cease fire between Israel and Hesblah have on the war in Gaza.
Yeah, and it's a really good question. I think it's a difficult one to answer fully, But what I'd say is, on a purely practical level, it doesn't change the situation in Gaza. It's not a truce between Hummas and Israel. It's a truce between Hesbelah and Israel. But I think that more needs to be read into what could happen
from here and what the geopolitical shifts might be. Biden did confirm yesterday that in the wake of this successful cease fire deal that he is going to try and renew his efforts to get a deal done in Gaza. He said in the press conference he spoke quite a lot about the Palestinians in Gaza and their suffering. He said, they've been through hell. Their world is absolutely shattered, and he said that he wants to see a cease fire reached and he wants to see those remaining hostages held
in Gaza by Hummas released back to Israel. I will add that the last time there was a pause in fighting in Gaza was a full year ago now, yeah, and that was only for a few days, and at that point we had some hostages released. That's the only time there has been hostages released by Hummas, and there was a halt in fighting for those few days. But there have been no breakthroughs since that time, despite all the reporting of sometimes getting closed, sometimes not getting close.
What I will say though, is that Joe Barden only has two months really left in office, and I think a lot of people have suggested that the wars in the Middle East will be a big part of his legacy, and I think and his administration will be working very hard to try and change that and to try to bring an end to the war in Gaza over the next two months before President Trump takes office.
And we know that President elect Donald Trump has also said that he also wants to see a complete end to the war in the Middle East.
Yeah, yeah, so, I mean, look, today feels like the closest we have had in bringing an end to these concurrent wars since you know, October last year. But we'll have to wait and see what happens.
It's such a complicated topic. Zara, thank you so much for taking us through it, and thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Daily Os. We'll be back with your afternoon headlines this afternoon. My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda Bunjelung Kalgodin woman from Gadighol Country. The Daily Os acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people. And pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island
and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.