And so it has come to pass. Late on Tuesday night, Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon, which came into effect at 4am (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday. The deal, in theory, puts an end to a nearly 14-month war that has killed thousands of Lebanese and dozens of Israelis. Over a period of 60 days, Israel will withdraw its forces from Lebanon, and Hezbollah will pull back from the border area. The Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip will meanwhile carry on undeterred.

Those familiar with Israel’s modus operandi could sense the imminence of a ceasefire in Lebanon, given the recent surge in manic bombardment by the Israeli military, which has a habit of stepping up its acts of lethal barbarism whenever there is a looming danger of temporary peace.

True to form, Israel spent much of the day prior to the ceasefire announcement bombing the living daylights out of various parts of Lebanon, including the capital, Beirut, where its sadistic pounding of residential areas – pardon, “Hezbollah infrastructure” – sent much of the population fleeing in terrorised panic.

After all, there is nothing like an impending ceasefire to empty your arsenal and make room for new goodies. All the better if you go ahead and pulverise as much territory as possible before the referee says – time’s up.

During Israel’s last major war on Lebanon in 2006, which killed approximately 1,200 people over a span of 34 days, the Israeli military geared up for the inevitable ceasefire by launching millions of........

© Al Jazeera