Israel and Lebanon agree to 10-day truce, Trump announces

BEIRUT – Israel and Lebanon have agreed to begin a 10-day ceasefire, President Donald Trump said on April 16.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said he spoke to the leaders of both countries and directed his top aides to work with Israel and Lebanon to “achieve a Lasting PEACE”.

The truce will begin at 5pm Eastern time (5am on April 17, Singapore time), he said.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had urged Mr Trump to help secure a ceasefire for Lebanon in the first call ever between the two leaders.

Pakistan has said peace in Lebanon is vital to ending the Iran war.

The US-Israeli war with Iran spilt into Lebanon on March 2, when the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel in support of Tehran, prompting an Israeli offensive in Lebanon just 15 months after the last major conflict.

“Peace in Lebanon is essential for (Iran) peace talks,” Mr Tahir Andrabi, spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, said.

Mr Trump said earlier in the day he was seeking to create “a little breathing room” between Israel and Lebanon.

Mr Aoun’s office said he spoke to Mr Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and thanked them for their efforts to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Mr Trump had also said the two leaders of Lebanon and Israel had not spoken for some 34 years and “it will happen tomorrow”.

But three Lebanese officials told Reuters on April 16 that Mr Aoun would not hold a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the near future.

Two of the Lebanese officials said the Lebanese embassy in Washington had informed the US administration of the position before Mr Aoun’s call with Mr Rubio.

The Lebanese government has been sharply at odds with Hezbollah over its decision to enter the war, having spent the last year seeking to secure the peaceful disarmament of the group founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982.

Beirut banned Hezbollah’s military activities on March 2.

Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors held rare talks in Washington on April 14, but contact between Mr Netanyahu and Mr Aoun would be a major milestone in ties between the two countries, which have remained in a state of war since Israel was established in 1948.

Hezbollah opposes contacts between Lebanon and Israel.

Mr Aoun had said early in the war he would be open to direct talks, but Lebanon’s position is that a ceasefire should precede negotiations.

In a statement on April 16, he said a ceasefire would be the “natural entry point for direct negotiations” with Israel, and that the withdrawal of Israeli troops in southern Lebanon would be “a fundamental step”.

Fighting continues

Fighting continued to rage in south Lebanon, notably in the Lebanese border town of Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold and strategic prize.

A senior Lebanese official said Lebanon believes Israel wants to secure a victory in Bint Jbeil before diplomatic progress could be made.

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.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,100 people in Lebanon since March 2 and forced more than 1.2 million to flee, the Lebanese authorities say.

Hezbollah attacks have killed two ⁠Israeli civilians, while 13 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon since March 2, Israel says.

Washington expressed optimism on April 16 about reaching a deal to end the Iran war.

The two sides agreed on a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war on April 8, following mediation by Pakistan.

Israel and ‌the US have ⁠said the campaign against Hezbollah was not part of that ceasefire, though Pakistan’s prime minister had said the truce would include Lebanon, as demanded by Iran.

A senior Israeli official and the senior Lebanese official said on April 16 that Mr Netanyahu’s government was under heavy pressure from Washington to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon.

A senior US administration official said on April 16 the Trump administration had not asked for a ceasefire, but the US president “would welcome the end of hostilities in Lebanon as part of a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon”. REUTERS