By Afshain Afzal

French President Emmanuel Macron as the architect of cease fire between Israel and Hizbollah along with US President, the Prime Ministers of Israel and Lebanon with the consent of Iranian leadership agreed to implement UNSC Resolution 1701 which provides areas which are south to Litani, Lebanon will have no weaponry and should be free from any armed fighter. The agreement that became effective at 4:00 a.m local time, on 27 November 2024, provides that the fighting across the Lebanese-Israeli border will end. It can be guarded with weapons only by Lebanon’s state army and the UN peacekeeping force. One wonders why Iranian and Lebanese leaders had to stage a drama of announcing war against Israel and the US, providing a chance to Israel and allies to eliminate Hamas and their supporters in the Middle East when none sent ground, air or Naval forces to save the Palestinians from their brutal genocide. 

The ceasefire agreement provides a 60-day halt of hostilities during which Hezbollah is to retreat around from the Israel-Lebanon border, while the Israeli military is expected to withdraw completely from the Lebanese territory. As per the ceasefire deal, the Lebanon army is expected to deploy around 5,000 troops in the southern region. The agreement also states that United Nations peacekeeping troops, the Lebanese army and a multinational committee will keep a watch and supervise the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. In a statement Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin declared Hamas as Iranian-backed terrorist organizations and said, “We must continue to focus on improving the desperate humanitarian conditions in Gaza, and we remain committed to securing the release of all of the hostages.

There is no doubt neither Hamas nor orthodox Muslim Palestinians were behind the attack on 7th October 2023 or taking hostages. However, during the so-called Israeli war against Hamas, Muslim leadership in Gaza, the occupied territories inside Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Crete were ruthlessly eliminated. The holy ancient places were leveled to the ground to remove the signs of Prophets (Alhe Salam). In this evil genocidal plot to eliminate entire orthodox Muslims in the Middle East, Israel's Western allies were not only silent spectators to the war crimes and genocide of Palestinians but were directly involved in funding, arming and providing personnel in the crimes against humanity. These nations crippled UN, humanitarian and relief organizations and journalists to perform their due role but also brutally killed them.

The terrorist attack inside Israel was a drama staged to eliminate the entire leadership of Hamas and its supporters. Iran and Lebanon, wittingly or unwittingly, tried to give an impression to the international community that Hamas is a terrorist organization have the full support of Iran. The same is the reason why US Secretary of Defense said, “Our support for Israel's security remains ironclad, and so does our support for Israel's right to defend itself from Iranian-backed terrorist organizations like Lebanese Hizbollah and Hamas”. Let there be no doubt that Hamas has no links with Iran and is a political organization that believes in peace and right of self-determination of the Palestinian nation for independence and the sovereign state of Palestine and peace in the world.