The United Nations said fighting in southern Lebanon has “significantly” decreased since the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding was announced.
Israel and Hezbollah resumed fighting days into Operation Epic Fury for the first time since their November 2024 ceasefire, when Hezbollah joined the fight to back its patron. Israel has continuously expanded operations in southern Lebanon, even moving north of the Litani River for the first time since withdrawing from the country in 2000, despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese state, which Hezbollah wasn’t a part of.
The MOU signed by the U.S. and Iran reportedly contains a provision to halt all fighting in Lebanon, a provision that has appeared to be the hardest to uphold. Though Israel and Hezbollah have continued fighting, the U.N. noted that exchanges of fire were far less than before the MOU was announced.
U.N. Secretary General spokeswoman Stéphane Dujarric announced in a Tuesday press conference that the international body observed a “significantly reduced level” of violence in Lebanon since the weekend.
The U.N.’s mission to the country recorded 38 violations of Lebanese airspace by the Israeli Air Force on Monday, compared to 83 on Sunday. The number of projectiles fell even further, from 705 on Sunday to 174 on Monday. Of the projectiles recorded on Monday, 169 were attributed to the Israel Defense Forces and five to Hezbollah.
However, Dujarric clarified that fighting hadn’t ceased completely, saying, “while violence has decreased since Sunday, incidents in southern Lebanon continue to be reported, which has a direct impact on people’s ability to check on their homes or to move around.”
Lebanese refugees from the south who fled north due to the fighting began to try their luck at returning home, another sign of confidence in the ceasefire. The number of displaced Lebanese in collective shelters decreased from 134,000 on Friday to 124,000 on Monday.
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Tehran has insisted that it considers attacks against Hezbollah a violation of the ceasefire, prompting President Donald Trump to exert heavy pressure against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to put a halt to the campaign. The cessation of hostilities against Hezbollah, a longtime thorn in Israel’s side, when the group is at its weakest, is highly unpopular in Israel and could spell doom for Netanyahu’s reelection chances.
Israel must hold elections sometime before the end of October, its first since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack.
