JERUSALEM – A U.N.-imposed cease-fire went into effect today, designed to end a month of violence that killed nearly 1,000 people, devastated much of southern Lebanon and forced hundreds of thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters.
There were no immediate reports of fighting in southern Lebanon shortly after the cease-fire began.
In the final hours before the truce, Israeli planes blasted Beirut and ground troops battled Hezbollah in south Lebanon seeking to batter the militant Islamic group in the hours before fighting stopped. Hezbollah on Sunday hit back with its heaviest rocket barrage of the war on northern Israel.
Israeli soldiers were ordered to halt their offensive as of 8 a.m. today (10 p.m. Sunday PDT).
The cease-fire was passed by the U.N. Security Council on Friday and approved by the Israeli and Lebanese governments. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also signaled his acceptance.
But implementation of the hard-won agreement already was in question Sunday night when the Lebanese Cabinet indefinitely postponed a crucial meeting dealing with plans to send 15,000 soldiers to police Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese media reported that the Cabinet, which approved the cease-fire plan unanimously Saturday, was sharply divided over demands that Hezbollah surrender its weapons in the south. That disagreement was believed to have led to the cancellation of Sunday’s meeting.
The deployment of the Lebanese army along Israel’s border, with an equal number of U.N. peacekeepers, is supposed to keep Hezbollah fighters out of an 18-mile-wide zone between the border and Lebanon’s Litani River.
Officials said Israeli troops would begin leaving southern Lebanon as soon as the Lebanese army and the international force started to deploy in the area.
Fighting escalated dramatically in the final hours before the cease-fire deadline.
Israeli jets pounded a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut with at least 23 missiles, most coming in a two-minute period Sunday. At least one person was reported killed. Jets also attacked gas stations in Tyre, killing at least 15 people, Lebanese officials said.
Two Israeli air raids on a village in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley later killed at least seven people, civil defense official Ali Shukur said.
Israeli warplanes also attacked the outskirts of Baalbek two hours before the cease-fire was to go in effect today, but it was not immediately clear if there were casualties, Lebanese security officials said.
Hezbollah fired more than 250 rockets at northern Israel, the worst daily barrage since fighting started July 12. Missiles killed an Israeli man and wounded 53 people, rescue officials said.
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