Middle East crisis live: Lebanon’s US embassy says Hezbollah has agreed to ‘reciprocal’ ceasefire with Israel under US proposal | US-Israel war on Iran
Lebanon’s US embassy says Hezbollah accepted US proposal on ‘mutual cessation of attacks’
But before I bring you that, we have a statement from the Lebanese embassy in Washington, via the X account of office of Joseph Aoun, the president of Lebanon.
“The Lebanese authorities [have] received confirmation of Hezbollah’s agreement to the US proposal, which calls for a reciprocal cessation of attacks,” the statement reads.
“Under the proposed arrangement, Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs would cease in exchange for Hezbollah refraining from carrying out attacks against Israel, with the ceasefire framework to be expanded to encompass all Lebanese territories.”
The statement added that Donald Trump held a call with Lebanon’s ambassador to the US, Nada Maawad, and informed her “that he had obtained the approval of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the proposed arrangement”.
“Ambassador Maawad relayed the outcomes of the discussions to President Aoun, who in turn notified Hezbollah of them,” it goes on. (It’s unclear if this is what Trump was referring to when he said he had had a “very good call” with Hezbollah “through highly placed representatives”.)
Referring to upcoming negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, the statement ends: “The scheduled negotiation meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday are set to convene to discuss this progress and build upon it.”
Key events
Hezbollah claims attacks on Israeli targets after Trump statement
Hezbollah claimed several attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon late on Monday, hours after Donald Trump said the Iran-backed militia had agreed that “all shooting will stop”.
In one statement, Hezbollah said that in the town of Hadatha, its fighters targeted a Merkava tank with an attack drone, and Israeli troops with “barrages of rockets and artillery shelling”.
In another statement it said its fighters subsequently attacked two Israeli tanks in the same area.
In a third of the statements – which like the others also indicated an attack time of after 11pm (2000 GMT) – Hezbollah said its fighters targeted a Merkava tank in the town of Bayada “with a guided missile”, reports Agence France-Presse.
Iran’s chief negotiator and speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has said that if “Israeli aggression against Lebanon continues, we will not only halt the path of negotiations, but we will also be in direct confrontation with the enemy”.
Ghalibaf said he had spoken to Nabih Berri, the speaker of parliament in Lebanon, and offered his support.
Earlier in the day Berri reportedly told the Trump administration that Hezbollah was ready for a full and immediate ceasefire with Israel.
More now from Donald Trump’s comments to US ABC News in which he said he expected there would be a deal with Tehran “over the next week” to extend the truce and reopen the strait of Hormuz.
“There was a little glitch today, but I turned that one around very quickly, as you probably noticed earlier,” he said. The glitch, according to Trump, was that Iran was upset about Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, the network is reporting. He continued:
double quotation mark So I spoke with Hezbollah, and I said no shooting, and I talked to Bibi [Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and said ‘no shooting’ and they both stopped shooting each other.”
Trump said a peace agreement with Iran could be “even better than a military victory”, the ABC quotes him as saying on Monday.
double quotation mark “It’s not a simple thing. You’re talking about a real large country … making a deal. Tremendous hostility, really.So it’s not an easy thing for them. It’s actually not easy from our standpoint either. But we’re getting what we need to get.”
As for when the memorandum of understanding to reopen the strait would be completed and agreed to, Trump said: “I think you’re talking about over the next week.” He said he had not agreed to it yet because “I still have to get a few more points”, the report says.
Trump urges Israel and Hezbollah to stop fighting ‘for eternity’’
Donald Trump has urged Israel and Hezbollah to stop fighting “for ETERNITY”, reiterating that he spoke to both parties on Monday and they agreed to stop shooting at each other.
He wrote on his Truth Social platform:
double quotation mark I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu today, asking him not to go into a major raid of Beirut, Lebanon. He turned his Troops around. Thank you Bibi! I also had a conversation with Representatives of the Leaders of Hezbollah, and they agreed to stop shooting at Israel, and its soldiers. Likewise, Israel agreed to stop shooting at them. Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!
Trump says he thinks there will be an Iran deal ‘over the next week’
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has told ABC News that he thinks there will be a deal with Iran to extend the ceasefire and reopen the strait of Hormuz “over the next week“, according to a post from the outlet on X.
It comes after the US president claimed on his Truth Social platform earlier that “talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
But, as we’ve been reporting, Iranian state media reported on Monday that Tehran had suspended message exchanges with Washington amid Israel’s continued assault on Lebanon.
Trump’s latest comments also appear at odds with what he has told other outlets on Monday, including that he “couldn’t care less” if talks with Iran are over, and “it’s fine if they’re done talking.”
As my colleagues note in this report, both Israeli officials and Hezbollah have made statements that cast doubt on the durability on the agreement announced by Donald Trump.
The Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah said the group refused a partial truce offer to spare Beirut in exchange for an end to Hezbollah attacks on Israel.
While, in a statement on X, Benjamin Netanyahu said he told Trump that Israel would attack Beirut if Hezbollah did not stop attacking Israel and its citizens, adding that Israel will continue to operate “as planned” in southern Lebanon.
Both Israel and Hezbollah continued attacking each other in south Lebanon after Trump’s statement.
Israel carried out airstrikes outside Nabatieh, while Hezbollah said it struck a group of Israeli soldiers outside Beaufort Castle.
Hezbollah supports ‘full ceasefire’ on all Lebanese territory, says MP
Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah has said that the group supports a “full ceasefire on all Lebanese territory”.
The ceasefire would be a precursor to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, Fadlallah added in comments made to the al-Manar broadcaster, as reported by Al Jazeera.
Earlier, the Lebanese presidency said that Hezbollah had accepted “a reciprocal cessation of attacks”, but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF would “continue to operate as planned” in southern Lebanon.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s minister of national security, has urged Benjamin Netanyahu to tell Donald Trump “no” – and to strike Hezbollah anyway.
Writing on X, he said:
double quotation mark Mr Prime Minister,You said that a strong prime minister tells the President of the United States – ‘yes’ when possible, and ‘no’ – when necessary.
This is the time to tell our friend, President Trump – ‘no’.
Now is the time to do what is required and necessary to strike Hezbollah, to unleash the hands of our fighters, and to restore security to the north.
Netanyahu says Israel will strike Beirut if Hezbollah doesn’t stop attacks and will continue operations in southern Lebanon
And now we have Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response.
Netanyahu said that he told Donald Trump that his country would strike Beirut if Hezbollah doesn’t stop attacking Israel.
“I spoke this evening with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our towns and our citizens, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by his office.
He added: “Our position on this remains unchanged. At the same time, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon.”
Lebanon’s US embassy says Hezbollah accepted US proposal on ‘mutual cessation of attacks’
But before I bring you that, we have a statement from the Lebanese embassy in Washington, via the X account of office of Joseph Aoun, the president of Lebanon.
“The Lebanese authorities [have] received confirmation of Hezbollah’s agreement to the US proposal, which calls for a reciprocal cessation of attacks,” the statement reads.
“Under the proposed arrangement, Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs would cease in exchange for Hezbollah refraining from carrying out attacks against Israel, with the ceasefire framework to be expanded to encompass all Lebanese territories.”
The statement added that Donald Trump held a call with Lebanon’s ambassador to the US, Nada Maawad, and informed her “that he had obtained the approval of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the proposed arrangement”.
“Ambassador Maawad relayed the outcomes of the discussions to President Aoun, who in turn notified Hezbollah of them,” it goes on. (It’s unclear if this is what Trump was referring to when he said he had had a “very good call” with Hezbollah “through highly placed representatives”.)
Referring to upcoming negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, the statement ends: “The scheduled negotiation meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday are set to convene to discuss this progress and build upon it.”
We’re now getting lines through from Hezbollah via Reuters regarding Trump’s announcement a short while ago that Israel and the Lebanon-based militant group have agreed not to attack each other. I’ll bring you more details here as I get them.
