The ceasefire signed by Israel and Lebanon, which saw fighting cease with Hezbollah, began on Wednesday, November 27. It seems to have held for the first five days, during which there continued to be tensions in southern Lebanon, and civilians in both Israel and Lebanon began to get used to the new reality. Lebanese civilians who had fled southern Lebanon have been warned by Israel not to return to areas close to the border. Others who fled areas further away, such as the coastal city of Tyre, were able to return.
The 60,000 Israelis who have been evacuated from northern Israel are also waiting to see whether the ceasefire will hold. The initial days of the agreement will likely be the most sensitive as parties assess what kind of new routine begins along the border. Over the next two months of the agreement, changes will continue as the IDF withdraws units that had operated inside villages in southern Lebanon.
In Israel, the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command changed guidelines across a large swath of the country. “Restrictions on gatherings will be removed in the areas of HaShfela, Yarkon, Dan, Sharon, Samaria, Menashe, Wadi Ara, HaCarmel, and HaAmakim,” the IDF said on November 28. These locales include most of the country, except areas in the Galilee near the border.
On November 30, IDF Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi made more changes to the Home Front Command’s guidelines. “As part of the changes, the activity scale in the areas of the Confrontation Line and the Northern Golan will change from Limited Activity to Partial Activity. In the rest of the country, Full Activity will be permitted without the restriction on gatherings except for the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip (Full Activity with the restriction of gatherings of up to 2000 people),” the IDF said.
This directive essentially means that most of the country, except for areas close to the Lebanese border, has now returned to normal. During the two months of Operation Northern Arrows from September 23 to November 27, Israelis in central and northern Israel were affected by Hezbollah rocket fire that often reached between 100–200 projectiles entering Israeli airspace daily. The change in guidelines came despite continuing threats to Israeli civilians. For instance, the IDF intercepted a drone flown from Iraq on November 29, and on December 1, the Iranian-backed Houthis fired a long-range missile targeting central Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis were sent to shelters at 6:24 am. The Israeli Air Force intercepted the Houthi missile before it entered Israeli airspace, the IDF said.
The IDF released data looking back at the two-month campaign in Lebanon. The Israel Air Force flew 11,000 sorties, and a total of 360 targets were struck in Beirut and 1,000 in the Bekaa Valley. The IDF estimates that it eliminated 2,500 terrorists, four of whom were Hezbollah division commanders, 24 brigade commanders, and 112 commanders at the battalion level and below. Around 20,000 types of Hezbollah munitions, rockets, and drones were seized, and 150 weapons storage facilities were destroyed. The IDF data didn’t segment out some key information, such as estimates of Hezbollah rockets destroyed by airstrikes.
On November 28, Halevi gave a statement describing the IDF’s achievements in the two-month operation against Hezbollah. He said the IDF had eliminated the entire chain of command of Hezbollah. “We are now moving toward a new phase, where the same determination that brought us to this agreement will be applied in enforcement [of the ceasefire],” Halevi stated. He also specified the Israeli Air Force would enforce the agreement, meaning the IDF would strike at Hezbollah threats and any of the group’s attempts to re-arm.
Israel’s head of Northern Command, Brigadier General Ori Gordin, visited troops in Lebanon on November 28 and reiterated the IDF’s commitment to preventing Hezbollah from returning to areas near the border. Gordin met with officers of the IDF’s 146th Division, including the unit’s commander, Brigadier General Yiftah Norkin, and the head of the 300th Brigade, Colonel Omri Rosenkrantz. This brigade is a territorial unit responsible for guarding the northern Lebanese border’s western section from the Mediterranean to Galilean hills. A second brigade controls the area near Kiryat Shmona, the eastern sector of the same line.
“The achievement against Hezbollah is very significant, inflicting a severe blow on the organization at all levels and across all its systems,” Gordin said. He added that the IDF would enforce the ceasefire agreement forcefully. “We plan for this entire area to be cleared of Hezbollah’s capabilities and certainly of its weapons, this is our mission. […] We are prepared to return to offense and return to combat.” This approach represents a shift in mentality for the IDF, he noted, as Israeli forces spent October 7, 2023, to September 23, 2024, on the defensive in northern Israel. Now, Israeli leaders intend to keep the border brigades on their toes to be ready to re-enter Lebanon and fight Hezbollah again to keep it in check.
