Wednesday Briefing: Israel approves Hezbollah cease-fire deal

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November 27, 2024

	By Gaya Gupta

Good morning. We’re covering Israel’s approval of a cease-fire deal for Lebanon and Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.

Plus, the 100 notable books of 2024.

Beirut, yesterday. Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

Israel approved a cease-fire proposal with Hezbollah

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet yesterday approved a cease-fire deal that would suspend fighting between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah after more than a year of conflict.

President Biden immediately hailed the agreement, which was mediated by the U.S. and France, and said it was “designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” He added that the cease-fire is scheduled to take effect today.

Netanyahu had earlier put his weight behind the deal as Israeli forces launched a barrage of strikes in Lebanon, hitting the heart of Beirut and neighborhoods to its south. Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the approval.

Lebanon’s government, which does not control Hezbollah, but whose approval is essential for the deal to move forward, is set to discuss the cease-fire agreement today. Follow our live updates here.

For more, we spoke to Patrick Kingsley, our Jerusalem bureau chief.

What do both sides want out of this cease-fire?

Patrick: Israel mainly wants Hezbollah to withdraw from the borderlands of southern Lebanon, thereby removing a threat to Israeli communities on the other side of the border. Israel also wants the right to redeploy inside Lebanon if Hezbollah doesn’t actually withdraw.

Publicly, Hezbollah has suggested that it mainly wants Israel to stop firing and to withdraw from southern Lebanon. Privately, Hezbollah likely wants its forces to remain as close as possible to the border, without provoking another Israeli invasion or air campaign.

The New York Times

How could these negotiations affect the ongoing war in Gaza?

They might not have a great effect. Some hope that Hamas’s remaining leaders in Gaza, deflated by the decision of their Lebanese ally, might agree to leave Gaza, allowing for the end of the war. But most experts find that idea fanciful. Instead, Hamas is expected to dig in, while the Israeli government is likely to continue to push for Hamas’s complete destruction, even as Israeli generals warn that such a goal is near impossible.

Now that Israel’s cabinet approved the cease-fire, what will happen next?

The Lebanese government is meant to deploy more of its own forces in southern Lebanon in order to fill the vacuum left by Hezbollah. But no one is sure how that will work, and similar efforts have failed in the past. Whatever happens, we expect the deal will give the various sides 60 days to complete the redeployment.

President Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico City, yesterday. Isaac Esquivel/EPA, via Shutterstock

Threats fly as U.S. tariff war looms

President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to impose heavy tariffs on products from Canada, Mexico and China on his first day in office is reverberating around the globe.

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, suggested yesterday that her government was ready to retaliate in kind if Trump imposed his threatened 25 percent tax on products entering the U.S. from Mexico. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said that he would hold an emergency meeting on Trump’s tariff proposal with provincial and territorial leaders. Here’s the latest.

Mexico’s president said that higher tariffs wouldn’t curb illegal migration or the consumption of illicit drugs in the U.S., an argument that Trump had made in the past. She also suggested that a tariff war would only hurt both economies, pointing to car manufacturers like General Motors, Stellantis and Ford Motor Co., which have operated in Mexico for decades.

China: If Trump levies tariffs against China, Beijing could let its currency fall to compensate. But that could start a currency war, which poses formidable risks for both countries.

People sheltered inside a metro station during a Russian airstrike in Kyiv yesterday. Alina Smutko/Reuters

Russia said Ukraine attacked it with U.S. missiles

Russia said that Ukraine had struck its territory again with U.S.-supplied missiles. The strikes, on Saturday and Monday, included more than a dozen weapons known as Army Tactical Missile Systems, the Russian defense ministry said. The attack damaged military infrastructure and wounded some soldiers, and Moscow said it was preparing “retaliatory actions.”

In Ukraine, the air force reported yesterday that Russia had unleashed an overnight attack involving nearly 200 drones. The attacks were the latest in a series of intensifying air assaults between the two countries in recent days.

The police used tear gas on protesters in Pakistan. Aamir Qureshi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Sports

Charlotte de la Fuente

Can you tax burps and farts? Denmark passed the world’s first climate levy on livestock, aiming to rein in planet-warming methane produced by its cows and pigs.

Globally, the food system accounts for a fourth of greenhouses gases, and reducing those emissions requires making tough choices on diets, jobs and industries. Denmark hopes this new tax will move its agriculture industry in the right direction.

Lives lived: Breyten Breytenbach, a dissident South African-born poet who was jailed in his fight against apartheid, died at 85.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.

Ricardo Tomás

100 notable books of 2024

The staff of The New York Times Book Review put together a list of the standout fiction and nonfiction of the year. It’s got science fiction, historical fiction, essays and memoirs.

Our interactive list lets you check off the books that you’ve already read, or that you want to. By the time you reach the end, you’ll have your own personal reading list that you can share with your friends. Check out the full list here.

David Malosh for The New York Times

Cook: Korean cheese buldak slathers braised chicken in a fiery sauce and cloaks it in melted mozzarella.

Watch: “Get Millie Black” is a new cop show created by the Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James.

Beautify: The distinctive makeup of early-aughts Nigerian movies is coming back.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Gaya

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