United States President Donald Trump announced this Thursday (23) that the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended for three weeks, despite sporadic fighting on the ground. “The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended for THREE WEEKS,” Trump said in a social media post while meeting with envoys from Israel and Lebanon. He also said that there are “great possibilities” of reaching a peace agreement later this year between Israel and Lebanon.
The announcement comes on the same day that Israel and Lebanon met in the United States, at the White House, for a second round of negotiations to discuss the possibility of extending the truce between Israel and the Hezbollah group, as well as plans for future negotiations between the two neighbors, who have a long history of hostile relations.
Israel says its goals in talks with Lebanon include ensuring the dismantlement of Hezbollah and creating conditions for a peace deal. Israel will be represented by its ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter. Rubio hosted the first meeting between Leiter and Moawad on April 14 — the highest-level contact between Lebanon and Israel in decades.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire in support of Iran in the ongoing regional war. The ceasefire in Lebanon came in parallel with Washington’s efforts to resolve its conflict with Tehran, although Iran has requested that Lebanon be included in any broader truce.
