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The US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon after weeks of Israeli strikes that have killed thousands of Lebanese and displaced more than a million in the war with Hezbollah.
The ceasefire, which is expected to halt Israeli attacks and fighting with the Iran-backed group, will begin at midnight in Lebanon and Israel, Mr Trump said on his social platform, Truth Social.
He added that he has invited the Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House for “meaningful talks”.
"I just had excellent conversations with the Highly Respected President Joseph Aoun, of Lebanon, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel," Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social. "These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve peace between their countries, they will formally begin a 10-day ceasefire at 5pm EST."
Mr Trump said he had directed Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and military chief of staff Gen Dan Caine to "work with Israel and Lebanon to achieve a lasting peace".
"I will be inviting the Prime Minister of Israel [..] and the President of Lebanon [..] to the White House for the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983, a very long time ago. Both sides want to see peace, and I believe that will happen quickly."
The Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the ceasefire, calling it a long-standing Lebanese priority and the main objective of recent talks in Washington. He described it as a major achievement, and credited international and regional efforts for securing the deal, particularly those of the US, France, the EU and Arab states including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan.
In Israel, unconfirmed media reports suggested Mr Trump announced Israel’s consent to a ceasefire before the Security Cabinet's approval.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah or from the Israeli government or army.
US-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon took place in Washington on Tuesday. The meeting was an unprecedented instance of direct engagement between diplomats from the two countries outside a formal ceasefire mechanism process in recent decades.
The meeting was held at the US State Department. It was attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Lebanese ambassador to the US, Nada Moawad, and the Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter.
The State Department said the US had expressed hope that talks could exceed the scope of the 2024 ceasefire agreement, and that negotiations could “unlock significant reconstruction assistance and economic recovery for Lebanon and expand investment opportunities for both countries".
Parallel efforts
Signs of a possible ceasefire in Lebanon emerged on Thursday after Mr Trump said Lebanese and Israeli leaders would speak, even as Israel continued pounding villages and attacking civilian infrastructure.
According to CNN, the Lebanese President declined to speak to Mr Netanyahu. “We told America we aren’t ready to take that step,” a Lebanese official told the US network.
A phone call between Mr Trump and the Lebanese President also signalled renewed momentum for a truce, with Mr Aoun thanking the US for its efforts to halt the war and urging that a deal be struck as soon as possible.
Efforts to push for a ceasefire have been running in parallel with Pakistani mediation aimed at securing a new round of talks between the US and Iran, which has said that ending the war against Lebanon and its ally Hezbollah is essential for such diplomacy to succeed.
Israel and Hezbollah reached a ceasefire after fighting a devastating war for more than a year, following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
Fighting resumed on March 2 this year after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel. The Tehran-backed group said it was avenging the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Israel-US strikes, and responding to more than a year of ceasefire breaches, with near-daily Israeli violations recorded.
Israel retaliated with force that was described as “disproportionate” by EU and Western officials, and civilians in Lebanon have paid the heaviest toll. At least 2,000 people, including more than 170 children, have been killed since then, according to Lebanese authorities.
On Thursday, an Israeli strike destroyed the last bridge linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country, Lebanese state media said. “The enemy warplanes launched two successive raids targeting the Qasmiya Bridge, the remaining crossing that connects the Tyre area to the city of Sidon, which led to its complete destruction,” the National News Agency reported.
It came amid heavy strikes across southern Lebanese villages. Israeli forces also struck the only operational hospital in southern Lebanon. Staff at the Tibnin Governmental Hospital were wounded in the attack on Wednesday night, which caused significant damage to the emergency department, the International Committee of the Red Cross in Lebanon said.
