President Donald Trump said Israel and Lebanon will extend their ceasefire by three weeks, a move that creates space to work on a long-term deal and removes a roadblock to ending the US war with Iran. Trump announced the deal in a social-media post after meeting Israeli and Lebanese envoys in the Oval Office on Thursday. He said he would host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanon President Joseph Aoun in the near future.
“The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump said without giving details on what that would entail. The ceasefire had been set to expire on April 26.
There was no immediate response from Israel or Hezbollah, which was not involved in the original ceasefire but had largely abided by its terms. The group has been battered since it triggered Israeli strikes by firing on the Jewish state in early March.
The Lebanon ceasefire is meant to pave the way for negotiations on a permanent peace accord between the two countries, which don't formally recognize each other. Keeping the guns silent is also considered crucial for Trump's broader push to settle the US and Israeli war with Iran, Hezbollah's main backer. Leaders in Tehran had insisted that any deal with the US must include a halt in Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
In an interview last week, Trump said he hoped to help secure a lasting deal and the US wasn't going to let the bombing of Lebanon to continue. Netanyahu had insisted the conflict in Lebanon was separate from the ceasefire between Iran and the US and that fighting against Hezbollah would continue.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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