A ten-day truce will begin at 5 PM EST (22:00 GMT) on Thursday following talks between the sides, the US president has announced
US President Donald Trump © Win McNamee / Getty Images
US
President Donald Trump has announced that a ten-day ceasefire between
Israel and Lebanon has been agreed upon following talks in Washington.
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump stated the truce would begin at 5 PM EST (22:00 GMT), following what he described as “excellent conversations” with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The talks, held in Washington DC, were the first direct meeting between the two nations “in 34 years”
and involved US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump said, adding that
he had directed US officials to work with both sides toward a “lasting peace.” Trump also claimed that the deal would be his “10th” such achievement.
Trump
did not mention Israel’s ongoing war with Hezbollah after its invasion
of southern Lebanon in early March, or its attempt to effectively annex
some 15% of the country. Last week, the IDF carried out its largest wave
of strikes across Lebanon since the conflict began, pounding central
Beirut just hours after the announcement of a two-week ceasefire between
the US and Iran.
Israel has killed over 2,000 people and wounded
thousands more since March 2, including hundreds of women and children,
according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Around 1.2 million people have
been displaced.
In a follow-up post, Trump invited Netanyahu and Aoun to the White House, describing it as the “first meaningful talks” between the two countries since 1983.
Israeli officials reportedly expressed “outrage”
after Trump announced the ceasefire ahead of the planned Israeli
security cabinet call to discuss a truce. Netanyahu told the ministers
that the deal would begin “at the request of Trump,” according to Ynet, adding that Israeli forces would remain in their positions in southern Lebanon.
Trump’s announcement comes amid deadly ongoing Israeli attacks
on Lebanese civilians. On Wednesday, Netanyahu said he had ordered an
expansion of military operations. Multiple strikes on the village of
Mayfadoun the same day reportedly left four paramedics dead and six
others wounded. Strikes were also reported near one of the last
functioning hospitals in southern Lebanon, in the town of Tebnine.