Another ceasefire is under threat from Trump – the precarious deal between Lebanon and Israel | Mohamad Bazzi

The 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah was paused by a US -brokered ceasefire in late November .

The agreement also paved the way to end years of political deadlock in Beirut .

The original 60-day ceasefire was intended to give the two sides time to negotiate a longer truce.

As the deadline for Israel to pull out its forces neared, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said it would not comply with a full withdrawal and the ceasefire was extended for three weeks until 18 February .

That extension has now expired and while Israel withdrew from a number of Lebanese towns and villages, it is keeping troops in five strategic locations across southern Lebanon .

The World Bank estimated that the conflict caused $ 8.5bn in economic losses to Lebanon .

Even before the recent war, Lebanon was suffering from an economic crisis precipitated by the country’s dysfunctional political structure and its corrupt former warlords who took control of the state in the early 1990s at the end of a 15-year civil war.