Washington: Israel and Lebanon will enter into a 10-day ceasefire within hours, US President Donald Trump has announced, in another possible step towards ending the major conflict between Iran.
But it is unclear how the ceasefire would work in practice, as Israel is fighting the Hezbollah terrorist group rather than the Lebanese nation.
Trump said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday (US time), following talks between top diplomats in Washington earlier in the week.
“These two leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their countries, they will officially begin a 10-day Ceasefire System,” Trump announced on the social network. Arbitration will commence at 5pm Washington time (7am AEST).
Israel has continued to carry out attacks against targets associated with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon that is a designated terrorist organization in Australia, the United States and elsewhere.
Elliott Abrams, a senior member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and former US special representative for Iran, said it was not clear who the ceasefire was between.
“If that means the situation in Lebanon, what about Hezbollah? They can break it tomorrow and that’s the end of 10 days,” he said.
Aoun does not control Hezbollah, although Abrams said he could try to persuade them to stop through Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally. “It’s not at all impossible for me.”
Hezbollah has not yet said whether it will participate in the ceasefire. But Hezbollah’s top lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told Reuters news agency that the group had been informed by Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon that a week-long ceasefire could begin Thursday evening.
Asked if Hezbollah would commit to the deal, Fadlallah said everything was tied to Israel’s commitment to end all forms of hostilities, and praised Iran’s diplomatic efforts for a possible ceasefire.
Trump said he had invited Netanyahu and Aoun to the White House for a meeting, but did not say whether they had agreed to come.
The two countries have no diplomatic ties and have not held high-level, face-to-face talks in more than 30 years – until a meeting between ambassadors at the US State Department this week.
There has been a cease-fire between the United States, Iran and Israel since April 7, while negotiations continue to end the war that began on February 28. But the ceasefire did not include Lebanon.
Iran initially wanted a cease-fire to be implemented over Israeli attacks in Lebanon, but it took part in talks in Pakistan last week regardless.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu on Trump’s cease-fire announcement. But less than 24 hours before that, he said Israeli forces continue to attack Hezbollah and were about to capture Bint Jbeil, a municipality located in the south of the country near the Israeli border.
He said he had also instructed the Israel Defense Forces to “continue to strengthen the security zone” between the two countries.
“Our American friends are constantly updating us on communications with Iran,” Netanyahu said. Our goals are the same. Anticipating the possibility that fighting will resume, we are prepared for any eventuality.
with Reuters
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Michael Koziol is the North American correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, deputy editor of the Sun-Herald and federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect through X or email address.
