Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, which was due to expire on Sunday, will be extended by three weeks, following talks between representatives of the two countries in which he took part personally at the White House. He also said he believes a peace agreement between the two sides could be reached within the year.
“The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended for THREE WEEKS,” the US President wrote on Truth Social, capitalising the final words, summarising what he described as a meeting that went very well."
In the same message, Trump said Washington “will work with Lebanon to help it defend itself” from the Shia movement Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.
Before the meeting, the Lebanese government had said it was seeking an extension of the fragile truce, which has been in effect since 17 April.
Speaking later to reporters, Trump said there was a “very good chance” that a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon could be signed within 2026. He also said he expects Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to meet at the White House “in the coming weeks.”
Earlier, President Aoun said he hopes “to be able to go to Washington to meet President Trump and inform him of the truth about what is happening in Lebanon,” adding that he does not plan to meet Netanyahu.
Trump also said he does not intend to use nuclear weapons in any strikes against Iran, responding during a press conference in the Oval Office to a journalist’s question that he described as “stupid."
“Why would I need to do that?” Trump said. “Why would I use nuclear weapons when we have decimated them with conventional weapons?” He added that “the use of nuclear weapons must never be allowed by anyone."
Hezbollah launches rocket attack
On Thursday evening, Hezbollah said it fired rockets at an area in northern Israel in retaliation for what it described as Israeli army violations of the ceasefire, shortly before the start of the second round of talks in Washington between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States.
“In defence of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the violation of the ceasefire by the Israeli enemy and its attacks on the town of Yater in southern Lebanon,” Hezbollah said it “targeted the settlement of Shtula with a salvo of rockets."
The Israel Defense Forces said all the rockets fired from Lebanon were intercepted and reported no injuries.
Source: CNA