Lebanon ceasefire largely holds but fears persist it may collapse

BEIRUT/METULA, Israel, June 22 - A ceasefire largely held in Lebanon on Monday as the country experienced the longest lull yet in three months of war between Hezbollah and Israel, even as fear of renewed hostilities kept displaced people from going home.

A senior Lebanese security official said that adherence to the ceasefire had been "almost total" since Saturday evening, though the official said an Israeli tank fired shells towards a village near Tyre and Israeli forces fired sound grenades in two other locations on Monday. An Israeli drone buzzed over Beirut.

The war has tested the interim U.S.-Iran deal on ending the regional conflict, leading Tehran to announce at the weekend it had once more closed the Strait of Hormuz, saying the U.S. had failed to meet its commitment to halt the fighting in Lebanon.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who led Washington's delegation to a first round of talks with Iran aimed at reaching a final peace deal, said on Monday that progress had been made towards ending hostilities in Lebanon, and that the Strait was open.

He said Lebanon was a work in progress.

Hassan Wazni, director of a hospital in Nabatieh - a city in the south that has been heavily bombarded during the conflict - said there had been calm since Saturday evening.

"I'm monitoring the situation day by day, and most of the time I'm sleeping in the hospital. This is the longest a ceasefire has held," he told Reuters by phone.

'PEOPLE ARE STILL UNEASY'

But people were hesitant to return, he added, noting that a ceasefire declared on Friday had quickly collapsed, with 20 people in Lebanon killed by Israeli attacks on Saturday, according to Lebanon's civil defence.

"People are still uneasy," Wazni said.

The municipal council of the village of Zawtar El Charqiyeh, in a statement circulated on social media, warned residents against returning until safe to do so.

Israeli forces remain deployed deep inside southern Lebanon, occupying a self-declared security zone where they have been razing villages, saying Hezbollah has embedded itself in civilian areas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that troops had full freedom of action to thwart any Hezbollah direct or emerging threat against them or Israeli citizens, and would remain in Lebanon for "as long as is necessary".

Still, the Israeli military lifted safety restrictions in eight communities near the Lebanese border beginning at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Monday.

"The ceasefire is fragile because, first of all, we are dealing with a terror organization," said local resident Miry Menashe, 41, speaking in the Israeli community of Metula, located directly at the Lebanese frontier.

"We're not dealing with the Lebanon country itself. So, to tell you the truth, I have no faith in them. So, ceasefire or not, we're still very alert and ready for anything," she said.

VANCE DISCUSSES CEASEFIRE WITH LEBANESE PRESIDENT

A joint statement issued at the end of U.S.-Iranian talks mediated by Pakistan and Qatar in Switzerland said the parties had agreed to create "a de-confliction cell" to ensure adherence to the termination of hostilities in Lebanon.

Israel has yet to issue any comment on this.

At Iran's insistence, an interim deal signed with the United States last week requires Washington, Tehran, and their allies to declare an immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon.

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire on Friday afternoon, only for hostilities to flare up again on Saturday, leading Iran to announce that it had again shut the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. officials disputed that the strait was closed, but commercially available shipping data showed an immediate impact.

On Saturday evening, an Israeli military official said the military had received updated directives from the political echelon to cease fire. The Israeli military was operating in "a defensive manner within the security zone", the official said.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun discussed efforts to maintain a ceasefire and halt Israeli military escalation during a phone call with Vance, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, and White House envoy Jared Kushner, the Lebanese presidency said.

Since Hezbollah opened fire in support of Iran on March 2, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed 4,106 people, including 773 women, children and health care workers, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The toll does not say how many combatants are among the dead.

Israeli attacks have forced some 1.2 million people from their homes in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israel's death toll from this round of hostilities with Hezbollah includes at least 32 soldiers and four Israeli civilians. REUTERS