President Joe Biden and his top negotiator, Amos Hochstein, deserve considerable credit for bringing about a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. The terror group had no reason to launch a new conflict with Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, but clearly did so at Tehran’s behest.
Indeed, when the Hamas leadership initially approached the late Hassan Nasrallah in an effort to get Hezbollah to agree to a coordinated attack on Israel, the Hezbollah leader demurred.
When Nasrallah subsequently authorized the launching hundreds of missiles into Israel, thereby driving out some 70,000 Israelis residing near the Lebanese border, Israel retaliated with such ferocity that Hezbollah lost much of its fighting power. It lost both its longtime leader and his newly named successor, at least a third of its missile launchers, much of its infrastructure and many of the tunnels it had constructed in anticipation of an expanded attack on northern Israel.
Unsurprisingly, Hezbollah was suddenly prepared to agree to a 60-day truce. In announcing the cease-fire, Biden said that both sides “have accepted the United States’ proposal to end the devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.” He added that the cease-fire “is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.”
But Hezbollah has said little other than that it has accepted the cease-fire. It has yet to make any long-term commitment. Indeed, shortly after Biden’s announcement, the terrorist group was still sending vehicles into the zone below the Litani River, to which,........