Is a ceasefire in Lebanon really drawing close, and could it be enforced?

By David Brummer

JERUSALEM – Reports have emerged over the last 24 hours or so about the possibility of a ceasefire between the warring parties in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. This is partly due to Israeli officials intimating this week it might be possible to draw down the fighting and attempt to reach a diplomatic settlement. Residents of Israel’s north, still displaced by incessant daily rocket and drone strikes, likely would beg to differ with this assessment.

Special Coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk, along with Special Envoy Amos Hochstein, arrived in Israel Thursday, ostensibly to attempt to broker some kind of truce to end the fighting in Lebanon and to provide a means for some 80,000 or so residents of Israel’s north – who have been internally displaced since Oct. 8, 2023 – to return to their homes and attempt to reestablish some sense of normalcy in their daily lives.

There have been suggestions both from the military and political echelons that Israel could consider a reality beyond the war. The IDF Northern Command has intimated it is nearing the completion of its mission to raze Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure both around and on the border with Israel – and there certainly seems to be significant evidence for this. Indeed, it appears the IDF uncovered several staging areas, and weapons stores – some of them a mere stone’s throw away from UNIFIL “peacekeeper” bases – which were to be used in a Hezbollah attack – “Conquering the Galilee” – which would likely have dwarfed the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.