The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire of 2024 and the push to disarm Hezbollah

Thousands of people crossed back into Lebanon from Syria on the second day of the ceasefire,^[1] but within days Israel carried out airstrikes against what it said were threats,^[6] and Hezbollah claimed its first attack on an Israeli position.^[7] The war that led to the truce is told in the arc on the 2023-24 war. A weakened Hezbollah could not defend its ally Bashar Assad in Syria,^[8] and Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun as president in January 2025, ending a two-year vacancy;^[9] Nawaf Salam, an international judge, became prime minister.^[10] Israel said its troops would stay beyond the 60-day withdrawal deadline,^[11] and in February it kept them at five posts.^[2] Hezbollah held a funeral for Hassan Nasrallah in February, expecting a huge turnout.^[12]

Israel struck Beirut for the first time during the truce in March 2025, after rocket fire, and said it would hit anywhere in Lebanon it saw a threat;^[13] strikes on the capital's southern suburbs followed through the year.^[14][15][16] Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said the group would not lay down its weapons,^[17] while a US envoy, Tom Barrack, pressed Lebanon to disarm it.^[18] In August the Lebanese cabinet decided to work toward disarming Hezbollah by the end of 2025, which Netanyahu welcomed and Hezbollah said it would treat "as if it did not exist."^[3][4] The UN Security Council voted for its peacekeepers to leave Lebanon in 2027.^[19] Israeli strikes continued, one killing 13 people in Sidon,^[20] as Lebanon announced the first phase of disarmament in January 2026.^[5]