Hezbollah supporters in southern Beirut waved the militant group’s flag in celebration on Wednesday morning, hours after a ceasefire agreement between the militant group and Israel took effect.
Reuters footage from the streets in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs, known to be a Hezbollah stronghold, showed cars and scooters honking as pedestrians waved and distributed yellow-colored Hezbollah flags.
Israel’s military bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs 20 times in two minutes in the hours before the agreement, in one of the most intense bombardments since the start of the war. Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed at least 25 people on Tuesday, according to a CNN tally of health ministry figures, including at least 10 people in central Beirut.
The ceasefire that went into effect at 4 a.m. local time (9 p.m. ET on Tuesday) implements a deal brokered by the US and France that is expected to halt the fighting for 60 days and “designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” US President Joe Biden said.