At first it was a rumor. Then, verified press information: Israel was essential for the United States to begin Operation Epic Fury against Iran on February 28. Against the advice of the main military commanders and with the suspicion of his close team, the American president, Donald Trump, took the step after meeting privately with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and believing a few powerpoints of Mossad. The rest is history.
Now, however, the tables are turning. It was the New Yorker who imposed the ten-day truce with Lebanon on Telavi, which began this morning in a shaky, incomplete manner, as unfortunately usually happens in the area. This Friday the Israeli press explained it profusely, highlighting that Bibi has a double problem: swallowing what is imposed on him from the White House because he needs that calm front to negotiate with the ayatollah regime and deal, in the process, with anger at home.
It is varied: from his government partners for not continuing to persecute Hezbollah; from the opposition because the US made representations without notifying Netanyahu; of the population of the north, who do not dare to return home in case there are new attacks by the Lebanese party-militia; and of the Israelis in general, who see that another waterway, like the Iranian one, is being closed, without those who they see as existential adversaries having been defeated.
The ceasefire entered last midnight, will last 10 days and is expected to become permanent at the end of that period, the US said yesterday. During the truce, Israel Defense Forces units will remain in the positions they took in the south of the Arab country. However, it is possible that Washington will force Israel to withdraw from Lebanon after that time, as it did last year in the Gaza Strip. However, they are still inside, but the signed commitment is to withdraw.
In Lebanon, in the face of this war, Israel had already said that it was going to blow up the villages in the south and stay, establishing a buffer zone up to the Litani River, to prevent Hezbollah from operating there, using projectiles that reach its territory or starting border crossing operations and kidnappings, like Hamas, says the Army.
The truce comes after the ceasefire that Trump declared with Iran last week. Trump already forced Netanyahu to join, reluctantly. His cabinet wants to continue attacks on two fronts to nullify its adversaries. The diary Haaretz maintains that in a telephone consultation with members of the security cabinet on Thursday night, Netanyahu stated that accepting the ceasefire is a “gesture” towards Trump, as part of Israel’s effort to coordinate positions with him on the crucial issue, which is Iran.
But I didn’t have many options. “At this stage of the war, which he entered largely at the insistence of Netanyahu, Trump has become the final, if not the only, arbiter. In fact, the claim that Israeli foreign policy was hijacked by the American president has merit. Just as Trump forced the conclusion of the previous 12-day war against Iran in June, he has now imposed temporary ceasefires in Iran and Lebanon,” explains renowned analyst Amos Harel.
Israeli armor moves near destroyed houses in southern Lebanon, seen from a position on the Israeli side of the border, April 15, 2026.
Reported by Washington
The members of that security cabinet were informed only after Trump announced on his social networks that he had achieved the ceasefire, following his calls to Netanyahu and the Lebanese president. Joseph Aoun. Israeli citizens also found out through Trump’s statement. That has stung a lot at home. “Netanyahu will have difficulty convincing public opinion that the objectives of the war have been achieved, given that Hezbollah has not been disarmed and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard remains intact,” the specialist of the Haaretz.
in the diary Yedioth Ahronothit is exposed that Trump promised Netanyahu a “holy grail” in exchange for this ceasefire in Lebanon. His reading is more positive. “At first glance, Israel enters this ceasefire in much better conditions than a month and a half ago, before fighting began on March 2, when Hezbollah launched attacks seeking revenge for the assassination of Ali Khamenei and dragged Lebanon into a bloody conflict. Since then, Israel has made two important tactical advances: taking control of the anti-tank missile line and establishing a presence about 10 kilometers inside Lebanese territory,” he says. The thing is that the defenders of this siege have no guarantee that it will last.
As of today, the main war objectives that Netanyahu outlined on February 28 have yet to be achieved. Neither the overthrow of the Iranian regime (they have killed a supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, but there is a successor, another Khamenei, Mojtaba) nor the elimination of the two threats that it had boasted after the June war: the Iranian nuclear project and its long-range ballistic missile program.
This week, Mossad chief David Barnea had to explain that the campaign to overthrow the regime will continue, even if the war ends. And the Israel Defense Forces insist that they have significantly reduced the Islamic Republic’s attack capacity. But that depends mainly on what Washington says and what a possible agreement between Iran and the US stipulates.
From Netanyahu’s perspective, the outlook seems difficult to sell. It is unlikely that any American president after Trump will attack Iran again with the aim of causing regime change. And even before that, Iran could demand guarantees from Trump that the country will not be attacked again by Washington and Tel Aviv. Furthermore, it raises the question of how much interest the president will maintain in the Middle East – from Lebanon to Gaza – if the war ends. He has never liked it. He has never been interested. You think you are wasting your time and money.
So far, nearly 2,200 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli attacks since March 2, while Hezbollah has killed two people with its projectiles fired into northern Israel. Additionally, 13 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, one of them by friendly fire.
Anger in election year
The leaders of the different opposition parties in Israel immediately positioned themselves against the ceasefire in Lebanon and pointed out that the truce comes without the Israeli Army having put an end to said organization.
“The confrontation in Lebanon can only end in one way: by eliminating the threat to the northern communities (Hezbollah) permanently,” wrote the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, on the social network
“The confrontation in Lebanon can only end in one way: by eliminating the threat to the northern communities (Hezbollah) permanently”
Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition in Israel, in a file image.
Also the leader of the far-right group Israel Beytenu (‘Israel Our House’), Avigdor Liberman, cried out against the agreement in a video statement, in which he stated that it constitutes a “betrayal” to the citizens of northern Israel. “Once again, Hezbollah has been given time to recover and become stronger. The war must not end without a clear victory and the elimination of Hezbollah,” he added, according to EFE.
“Once again, Hezbollah has been given time to recover and become stronger. The war must not end without a clear victory and the elimination of Hezbollah.”
The right-wing Gadi Eisenkot, at the head of Yashar! (“Straight!”), stated that the truce “must come from a position of strength.” “In two and a half years of war, a pattern has developed in which a truce is imposed on us: in Gaza, in Iran and now in Lebanon. Netanyahu does not know how to convert military achievements into diplomatic achievements,” he adds.
The leader of Yashar! He also pointed to the safety of the northern population, the closest to the border with Lebanon and susceptible to occasional fire from Hezbollah, as the objective to be guaranteed.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennet (and one of the favorites heading into the elections), also on the right, has not yet spoken out. “The ceasefire agreement is a step in the right direction,” wrote the leader of the social democratic coalition Los Democrats, Yair Golán, on social networks, who in this way sent a discordant message with respect to the rest of the politicians outside the government. “Furthermore, it comes too late. Months of suffering could have been saved for northern residents, and soldiers’ lives could have been saved,” he continued. However, he assured that the truce is a “maneuver imposed on the government”, the result of external pressure.
The leftist Arab-Jewish coalition Hadash Taal also highlighted the importance of the agreement, but assured that it will not offer real security. “Peace with all the peoples of the region, including Lebanon, will only be achieved with the end of the occupation and the creation of a Palestinian State alongside the State of Israel,” his statement states.
