Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, Donald Trump said on Thursday.
The truce will take effect at 9 p.m. GMT on Thursday, the US president announced in a social media post.
The agreement was reached after Trump held “excellent conversations” with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M. EST,” Trump said on his Truth Social network, without mentioning Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.
The agreement comes two days after Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades in Washington and aims to end more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
Lebanon has repeatedly insisted that a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel should precede negotiations.
Trump said he had directed US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and top US military officer Dan Caine to work with the two countries “to achieve a Lasting PEACE.”
The president also invited the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to the White House for what he said would be “the first meaningful talks” between the countries since 1983.
“Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly,” Trump wrote in his post.
“It has been my Honor to solve 9 Wars across the World, and this will be my 10th, so let’s, GET IT DONE!” said Trump, who launched the war on Iran alongside Israel on February 28.
Since then, Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than one million, and Israeli ground forces have invaded the country’s south, AFP reported.
Trump said late Wednesday that Aoun and Netanyahu were due to speak on Thursday, but there was no confirmation that any such call had happened.
Fighting in south Lebanon continues
Ahead of the ceasefire, fighting continued to rage in south Lebanon on Thursday, notably in the Lebanese border town of Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold and strategic prize. A senior Lebanese official said Lebanon believed Israel wanted to secure a victory in Bint Jbeil before diplomatic progress could be made, Reuters reported.
An Israeli strike destroyed the last bridge over the Litani River into the south, a senior Lebanese security source said, fully severing almost a tenth of Lebanon from the rest of the country after Israel destroyed other crossings during the war.
An end to hostilities
The ceasefire agreement follows a flurry of diplomacy since the Washington meeting.
Earlier on Thursday, President Aoun stressed the importance of a ceasefire before any direct negotiations took place.
“The ceasefire requested by Lebanon with Israel is the natural starting point for direct negotiations between the two countries,” Aoun said in a statement.
Aoun received a phone call from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to the Lebanese presidency, in which he thanked Rubio for the “efforts Washington is undertaking to reach a ceasefire and its support at all levels.”
The post added: “For his part, Rubio affirmed his continuation of the ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire as a prelude to establishing peace, security, and stability in Lebanon, confirming his support and appreciation for President Aoun’s positions.”
A senior US administration official said earlier that Trump would “welcome” an end to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, but stressed that any such outcome is not part of talks between Washington and Tehran.
“The United States wants to see a durable peace but did not demand an immediate ceasefire,” and “negotiations between the US and Iran are not linked to ongoing peace talks between Israel and Lebanon,” the official said.
However, Iran’s prominent speaker of parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told his Lebanese counterpart on Thursday that a ceasefire in Lebanon was “as important” as in Iran, according to a statement posted on Telegram.
Ghalibaf said Tehran has “been striving to compel our enemies to establish a permanent ceasefire in all the conflict zones, in accordance with the agreement. For us, a ceasefire in Lebanon is just as important as a ceasefire in Iran,” he said, in a phone conversation with Nabih Berri.
Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday of two central objectives in the talks with Lebanon: “First, the dismantling of Hezbollah; second, a sustainable peace… achieved through strength.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss a possible ceasefire in neighboring Lebanon, a senior Israeli official said, more than six weeks into its war with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Ending the fighting in Lebanon was a key sticking point in earlier peace talks, along with how to deal with Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
A Lebanese official told Arab News reporters on Wednesday that intensive contacts were underway with international and regional actors to secure a halt to the hostilities, with a ceasefire a non-negotiable condition for moving forward.
“Lebanon is insisting on a full ceasefire before entering any formal negotiations,” the source said, adding that the government “will not relinquish a single inch of Lebanese territory.”
Arab News, with additional reports from Reuters, AP, AFP
