Trump announces Israel–Lebanon ceasefire, but major disputes remain
U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, but deep disagreements over Israeli forces on the ground and the dismantling of Hezbollah cast immediate doubt on whether the truce will hold.
As announced by Trump in a post on Truth Social, the ceasefire was to start at 5 p.m. ET, or midnight local time in Beirut. Celebratory gunfire rang out across parts of the Lebanese capital when the ceasefire was set to get underway.
The ceasefire comes as the renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, triggered by the war against Iran, has killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon, caused widespread destruction and driven more than a million residents from their homes.
The U.S. State Department published the details of the ceasefire agreement, including the potential for it to be extended by mutual agreement “if progress is demonstrated in the negotiations and as Lebanon effectively demonstrates its ability to assert its sovereignty.”
Once the ceasefire takes effect, the Lebanese government will take steps to prevent Hezbollah and all other non-state armed groups in its territory from carrying out any attacks against Israel, according to the text of the agreement.
Israel can take necessary measures in self-defence against planned, imminent or ongoing attacks during the ceasefire period, but it agreed not to carry out any offensive military operations in Lebanon during the 10 days.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed Trump’s ceasefire announcement in a post on social media.
Unclear if Hezbollah will abide
It’s not clear if Hezbollah will abide by the agreement after it outright rejected talks between the two countries earlier this week. In response to Trump’s announced deal, Hezbollah’s media office issued a statement saying any ceasefire must not allow Israel freedom of movement within Lebanon and that the presence of Israeli troops on Lebanese territory granted the “right to resist.”
Netanyahu said he agreed to the 10-day ceasefire with Lebanon and that Israel’s main demand is for the dismantlement of Hezbollah. In a video message, the Israeli prime minister said he hadn’t agreed to Hezbollah’s demand that forces deployed in southern Lebanon withdraw to the international border between the two countries and that Israel would maintain an extensive “security zone” up to the border with Syria.
Trump told reporters that the leaders could meet at the White House over the next week or two, adding that he was working on a longer term peace deal.
The announcement came on the heels of the first direct diplomatic talks held between officials from Lebanon and Israel in decades, hosted in Washington on Tuesday.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the group was informed by Iran’s ambassador in Beirut that a temporary ceasefire could begin Thursday evening.
Asked whether the group would commit to the agreement, Fadlallah said it would come down to Israel’s commitment to “halt all forms of hostilities.”
Earlier this week, another Hezbollah official rejected the talks and said the group will not abide by any agreement reached as a result of the negotiations.
Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based Shia militant group that also has a political wing. It formed in 1982 primarily to combat occupying Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. The name means “party of God” in Arabic. It’s considered a terrorist organization by Canada, the U.S. and other countries.
Thousands killed, injured in Lebanon
Renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah ignited after Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel on March 2 in solidarity with its ally Iran, two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic.
Initial attacks also killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and promptly triggered retaliatory Iranian strikes on Israel and Persian Gulf states that host U.S. military bases and personnel.
Since March 2, Israel’s attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 2,100 people — including health workers and journalists — and injured more than 6,500 others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Missiles launched from Hezbollah have killed two Israeli civilians; 13 Israeli soldiers have also been killed in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.
Hours after Tehran and Washington announced a truce last Wednesday, Israel launched more than 100 strikes across Lebanon, including in densely packed residential and commercial areas of central Beirut. Those strikes killed more than 350 people in only 10 minutes, according to Lebanese authorities.
Although Israel has avoided targeting Beirut since then, it has continued to strike parts of the country’s southern and eastern regions, where intense fighting is ongoing. On Thursday, Israel destroyed the last bridge over the Litani River into Lebanon’s south after hitting several other crossings during the war. That loss of those crossings means almost a tenth of Lebanon is now effectively cut off from the rest of the country.
The war in Lebanon has also resulted in the displacement of more than 1.2 million people from their homes, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israel has threatened Gaza-scale devastation in Lebanon. It says it aims to occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, which meets the Mediterranean about 30 kilometres from Israel’s border. Last month, Defence Minister Israel Katz said the plan was to create a “defensive buffer,” spelling out for the first time Israel’s intent to seize that territory.
