MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
To big news now for the Middle East. President Biden says Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a cease-fire.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I just spoke with the prime minister of Israel and Lebanon. I'm pleased to announce that their governments have accepted the United States' proposal to end the devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
KELLY: President Biden said it would take effect before dawn Wednesday local time. This is the first major cease-fire since the wars with Israel, Gaza and Lebanon started last October. It's meant to end 13 months of deadly fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, fighting which uprooted masses of civilians and has left immense destruction. Just hours before this ceasefire was announced, Israel mounted a round of fierce attacks in Lebanon, and Hezbollah rockets continued to hit northern Israel. Well, we have NPR correspondents on the line from both countries - NPR's Lauren Frayer in Beirut and Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Lauren, I'm going to start with you. What are the terms of this ceasefire?
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Yeah, Mary Louise. This is a 60-day truce in which Israel will withdraw its ground troops from Lebanon, halt airstrikes. Hezbollah will move its fighters and weapons north of the Litani River. That's about 20 miles away from the Israeli border. The Lebanese army will deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers who are already in the area of southern Lebanon. An international committee will monitor implementation of this. These are actually the same terms as the last ceasefire here in 2006, but they were never fully implemented back then.
KELLY: Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv, this is notable because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is throwing his personal weight behind this deal. Do we know why and why at this particular moment?
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Well, he gave a speech, and he said that Hezbollah has been significantly weakened - sent back decades, he said. He also gave some other reasons. He said it was time to end the war now to give Israel's troops a rest and also because Israel's ammunition is running low. He also said that this ceasefire deal in Lebanon could create the pressure needed to try to reach a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza.
But he emphasized one thing, which is that he said the U.S. knows that Israel maintains the freedom to attack in Lebanon, attack Hezbollah, if Hezbollah rearms or threatens Israel. You know, this is a 60-day ceasefire period, and that period ends just as the Trump administration will be entering the White House. So Israel is presuming here that Trump would give it a free hand to strike back in Lebanon if it thinks it needs to.
KELLY: OK, let's catch up on what the reality on the ground is. Tonight, Lauren, I gather it has felt like anything but a ceasefire where you are. What is the mood in Beirut?
FRAYER: Absolutely. Israeli airstrikes have only intensified here. This afternoon I was in a supermarket, buying a turkey for Thanksgiving, when the building shook. The electricity went out briefly. We've had huge blasts across this city, even in the past few minutes. It's been, really, the most intense 24 hours of the war on this front. Israel has also ordered evacuations in central Beirut for the first time tonight, including an area next to the American University of Beirut, and then struck buildings there. There are lots of casualties across the city tonight. One of our producers spoke to people streaming out into the streets. Here's one of them. His name is Ali Bazzi. He works at a board game center near the university.
ALI BAZZI: No one around us has any ties with Hezbollah or Hamas. We were shocked. The families that are living inside these buildings - no, it's not fair, you know? If you want to attack an organization, you wipe out an entire country - no, it's not fair.
FRAYER: More than 3,800 people have been killed in Lebanon since this war began, and more than 75 people have been killed in northern Israel.
KELLY: OK, well, Daniel, this is interesting. How is Israel explaining these big strikes in Lebanon even as a ceasefire deal was on the table?
ESTRIN: You know, Israeli commentators are saying that Israel is trying to hit every potential remaining target that remains in its bank of targets all the way to the last minute until the ceasefire takes effect. It even sent its ground troops the farthest north that they have been in this entire conflict in Lebanon, near the Litani River. I should also mention that Hezbollah rockets continued hours before the ceasefire deal was announced. They reached deep into northern Israel. So a lot of Israelis tonight are feeling anxious and anticipating final salvos from Hezbollah just before the ceasefire takes effect.
KELLY: And then, briefly, I'm curious about all the people who have been displaced by fighting. Does this ceasefire deal mean they might be able to think about starting to go home, Lauren?
FRAYER: The United Nations estimates a quarter of this country's entire population has been displaced. There's been a massive exodus out of Lebanon south. If this takes effect tomorrow morning, we could see a massive flow of people in the other direction, back to their homes. But a lot of people don't have homes to go back to. Parts of Lebanon, especially the south and the southern suburbs of Beirut, really look like Gaza now. It's a wasteland.
ESTRIN: And here in Israel, the ceasefire deal does have a lot of opposition and skepticism from Israelis who have been displaced from their homes along the Lebanon border. They are skeptical that they can safely return to their homes with this ceasefire deal in place. Their homes have been damaged and destroyed by Hezbollah fire. And a lot are questioning if it's just a matter of time before the next war with Hezbollah.
KELLY: That is NPR's Lauren Frayer in Beirut and NPR's Daniel Estrin reporting for us in Tel Aviv tonight. Thanks to you both.
ESTRIN: You're welcome.
FRAYER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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