Trump: ‘We expect a complete ceasefire’ between Hezbollah and Israel

Netanyahu vows IDF to stay in Lebanon amid US and Iranian pressure; Israeli envoy to US says Jerusalem remains committed to separate truce with Beirut if Hezbollah doesn’t violate it

US President Donald Trump on Thursday declared, “We expect a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel,” after signing a deal with Iran declaring the permanent end of military operations in Lebanon.

“The United States is committed to PEACE, and we encourage everyone in the Middle East region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations to beautifully unfold,” Trump wrote on Truth social.

The message came amid mounting anger over what the Trump administration has criticized as indiscriminate Israeli attacks against Hezbollah, while clarifying that Jerusalem has the right to respond to attacks by the Iran-backed terror group and avoiding publicly calling on Israel to withdraw from Lebanon.

In private, however, the US has called for a withdrawal — and been rebuffed by Israel, as Iran claims the Israel Defense Forces’s continued presence in Lebanon is a violation of the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.

Israel has insisted that it is not beholden to the MOU and that it will not pull its troops out of southern Lebanon, a stance Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Thursday.

“We will restore security and prosperity to northern towns,” he said at an official ceremony concerning Route 60, a north-south highway stretching from Nazareth to Beersheba that runs through the West Bank. “That requires maintaining the security zone in southern Lebanon; it requires that we not leave there, as long as Israel’s security needs require it.”

A senior Israeli official close to Netanyahu told Reuters earlier Thursday that Jerusalem is “conducting stubborn negotiations” with the US on the issue of continuing its deployment of troops in southern Lebanon. The IDF later published an updated map of its security zone in the country, saying it will not be withdrawing from the territory at this stage.

Israel, Hezbollah ally stress commitment to Lebanon truce

Though Israel has stressed it bound by the MOU, the Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter on Thursday said that Jerusalem continues to adhere to a separate US-backed ceasefire agreement with Beirut.

“Israel remains committed to the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel, Lebanon and the US. If Hezbollah does not violate the agreement, it will be kept,” Leiter tweeted.

“Under all circumstances, Israel retains its right to respond to attacks against it and to thwart threats to its territory, citizens and soldiers,” he added.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri issued a similar statement to Leiter, expressing the commitment of both Beirut and Hezbollah to a ceasefire with Israel.

Berri’s statement however welcomed the US-Iran MOU as well as Trump’s call to adhere to its terms, saying Lebanon and Hezbollah were recommitting to the ceasefire in order to bolster the upcoming negotiations between the US and Iran.

Berri is not a Hezbollah lawmaker, but his fellow Shiite Amal movement long been aligned with the terror group and has been used by the Lebanese government as a conduit to it.