ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
A significant development in the Middle East - a ceasefire is now in effect between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. This comes after more than a year of fighting that has displaced more than a million people and brought destruction to both sides. President Joe Biden announced the deal late yesterday.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: The fighting across the Lebanese-Israeli border will end - will end. This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.
SCHMITZ: Joining us now to discuss this deal and the U.S. role in securing it is national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Good morning, Jake.
JAKE SULLIVAN: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
SCHMITZ: Thanks for joining us. Jake, can you walk us through the key steps of this deal? I understand Israel has 60 days to remove its troops from southern Lebanon. What will be the U.S. role in making sure that this does not fall apart?
SULLIVAN: Well, the key here is to ensure that the terrorist group Hezbollah is not able to come back to southern Lebanon right across the border from Israel and rebuild its terrorist infrastructure. So over the next 60 days, the Lebanese Armed Forces, supported by the United States and France and other of our allies, will actually go into southern Lebanon, take up the positions that had previously been occupied by Hezbollah and ensure that no terrorist group returns to that region in force. And as they do that over 60 days, the Israeli Defense Forces will withdraw step by step from their positions in southern Lebanon.
So at the end of 60 days, the Israeli forces will all be on the Israeli side of the border. The Lebanese Armed Forces will be holding positions on the Lebanese side of the border. And the United States, France and others will work from that point forward to ensure that Hezbollah is not able to rearm and rebuild its terror infrastructure.
SCHMITZ: Now, Israel is saying it will fire into Lebanon when it sees a Hezbollah threat. That's exactly what Israel did this morning hours after the ceasefire took effect, firing towards suspects that Israel says were Hezbollah operatives approaching a border village. Do you consider that a breach of the ceasefire?
SULLIVAN: Well, the ceasefire very clearly states that if there is a violation, then the parties - in this case, Israel - have the right under international law to self-defense. So if Hezbollah or any other terrorist group violates the ceasefire, Israel retains its rights under this agreement. Our goal is to avoid this happening going forward by having the Lebanese Armed Forces step up and do their job with training and resources from the United States, France and other allies. And so we think that as this ceasefire gets fully in place, as the weeks go by, we will be able to grow confidence on both sides in it. But it is very clear from the ceasefire itself and the American position, as President Biden said yesterday, that Israel retains its rights under international law to self-defense.
SCHMITZ: Yeah. I mean, you just mentioned the deal says that both sides reserve the right to self-defense. What is the U.S. role if either side feels that there is a violation and then, you know, begins to break that ceasefire or starts to - starts a fire on the other side?
SULLIVAN: The U.S. role is similar to our role in bringing about the ceasefire in the first place. It's relentless, painstaking diplomacy with both sides, going back and forth between Israel and Lebanon and trying to make sure that we get the parties on the same page. That was true to generate the ceasefire, and it's going to be true to sustain the ceasefire. So our work has not ended today. In a way, it has just begun a new chapter, where we are going to have to stay engaged day in, day out to try to get both sides both to fulfill their obligations but also to work together transparently, predictably, systematically to ensure that the terms of the ceasefire are fulfilled.
SCHMITZ: Now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed this deal and said the ceasefire allows Israel to shift focus towards Iran. Hezbollah is backed by Iran. What is Israel and the U.S. planning with regards to Iran?
SULLIVAN: Well, we're going to continue what we have been doing over the course of the entire Biden administration, which is to continue to put pressure on Iran to comply with its international obligations. That pressure includes economic pressure. It includes deterrence through military deployments to the region. It has included striking back at Iran-backed proxies in both Iraq and Syria, who have attacked American forces. And in the case of Israel, it has involved direct strikes against Iran when Iran has attacked Israel directly. Those direct attacks by Iran against Israel, of course, were defended in part by the direct participation of the United States, and those attacks were defeated. So this is a multi-element strategy that we are pursuing to ensure that Iran and its proxies cannot effectively threaten over the long term either Israel or the United States or any of our other partners.
So I don't - I'm not here to announce any particular step we're going to take, only that we are going to continue this sustained effort, which has resulted in the degradation of Iran's premier proxy, Hezbollah, and has resulted in Iran being exposed and weakened for its direct attacks against Israel and its attacks through its proxies against American forces.
SCHMITZ: Now, Jake, the big issue is the ongoing war in Gaza. Yesterday, President Biden said there will be a new effort for a Gaza ceasefire. Can you preview what that new initiative might be? And is a Gaza ceasefire likely before Biden leaves office?
SULLIVAN: It's a very fair question. It's a question on many people's minds, frankly, including my own. I cannot predict if we will be able to achieve a Gaza ceasefire before President Biden leaves office. I can tell you we're going to make every effort to do so. And that involves, starting today, renewed engagement with Egypt and Qatar and Turkey to work with Hamas to try to generate a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Yesterday, President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu before going out to announce the ceasefire. He told Prime Minister Netanyahu he was going to renew his efforts on a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu said he was prepared to come to the table to get a good deal. And so that work will get underway literally today. And we're going to use every day between now and January 20 to try to achieve it or at least put ourselves in the best possible position to make sure it is achieved in the shortest possible time.
SCHMITZ: That's White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Jake, thank you.
SULLIVAN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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