{"id":70184,"date":"2026-04-17T13:27:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/70184\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T13:27:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:27:27","slug":"israel-lebanon-reach-ceasefire-could-a-peace-deal-be-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/70184\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel, Lebanon reach ceasefire: Could a peace deal be next?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire on Thursday, just days after direct talks were held between the two countries for the first time in years.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire Thursday afternoon, describing it as a step agreed to by both sides \u201cin order to achieve peace between their countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump added that he had invited Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House for direct talks, although it\u2019s not clear if either side has accepted the invitation. \u201cBoth sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly!\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

The ceasefire came after clashes escalated between Hezbollah<\/a> and Israel in recent weeks, when the terrorist group joined the Iran war by launching barrages of missiles and drones at Israel. Since early March, the two sides have been exchanging fire daily, and Israel has launched a ground operation deep into southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

How did we get here?<\/p>\n

Israel and Hezbollah have been at odds since the 1980s, when the group formed in response to Israel\u2019s entry into southern Lebanon to combat Palestinian militant groups. Direct clashes continued until Israel\u2019s 2000 withdrawal, after which cross-border raids and rocket attacks persisted on both sides.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Hezbollah ambushed an IDF patrol and kidnapped two soldiers, triggering the Second Lebanon War. Afterward, tensions ebbed and flowed but stopped short of full-scale conflict, until Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah opened a northern front one day after Hamas\u2019s October 7 assault, forcing some 68,000 Israelis from their homes.<\/p>\n

Nearly a year of escalating exchanges culminated in Israel assassinating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a Beirut airstrike on Sept. 27, 2024, followed days later by a ground invasion of southern Lebanon that dismantled much of Hezbollah\u2019s border infrastructure.<\/p>\n

In November 2024, Israel and Hezbollah reached a ceasefire. As part of the agreement, Hezbollah committed to leave southern Lebanon and to dismantle any weapons production facilities in the country. Israel agreed to fully withdraw from Lebanon within 60 days. Neither side fully complied<\/a>. Israel remained in five strategic border positions and continued airstrikes; Lebanon argued this violated the agreement. Israel countered that Lebanon was failing to rein in Hezbollah\u2019s ongoing operations.<\/p>\n

Last August, the Lebanese government made the dramatic decision to announce<\/a> it would demilitarize Hezbollah by the end of the year. At the beginning of January, the Lebanese Army claimed that it had completed demilitarizing Hezbollah south of the Litani River. This claim has been disputed, however, as many rockets were launched by Hezbollah from this area over the past month.<\/p>\n

\"Supporters\"Supporters<\/p>\n

Supporters of Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah terrorist group block the streets with burning tires as they rally in cars and motorbikes to protest the government\u2019s endorsement of a plan to disarm it, in Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs early on August 8, 2025. (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

For years, the Lebanese Army has failed to act against Hezbollah, both because of a lack of willingness and a lack of ability.<\/p>\n

Compared to the Iran-backed terrorist group, the Lebanese Army is relatively weak and relies heavily on foreign support. The Lebanese Army and political leadership, which Hezbollah is part of, have been concerned that acting against Hezbollah could spark a civil war, a genuine concern in the deeply divided country that has already faced several such conflicts over the past century.<\/p>\n

On March 2, after Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the Iran war, the Lebanese government responded with even harsher measures, declaring Hezbollah\u2019s military wing illegal and expelling Iranian military figures and diplomats from the country.<\/p>\n

Tensions continued to escalate over the past month, as Israel launched massive strikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon in response to Hezbollah\u2019s renewed rocket and drone attacks. Israel also launched a renewed invasion of southern Lebanon, warning it would destroy villages near the border to create a buffer zone to keep Hezbollah far from Israeli communities. However, after the U.S. reached a ceasefire with Iran<\/a>, the U.S. intensified efforts to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. Those efforts reached a critical crossroads this past week when Israeli and Lebanese officials met in Washington alongside American officials.<\/p>\n

Lebanon and Israel hold highest-level meeting in decades<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Lebanon\u2019s Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Maowad met with Israel\u2019s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, marking the highest-level talks between the two countries since 1993. The talks were aimed at agreeing on the guidelines for future negotiations for a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon, ending seven decades of conflict.<\/p>\n

The meeting on Tuesday was a preliminary one, mainly aimed at agreeing on the conditions for the launch of more serious negotiations. Nevertheless, the talks have already generated a lot of excitement, although both Israelis and Lebanese people are divided on whether there\u2019s any hope for a lasting peace.<\/p>\n

Lebanese officials emphasized in the days since that they would only agree to further negotiations if Israel agreed to a ceasefire. On Thursday, the U.S. pushed Israel to agree to that condition. At first, efforts were made to set up a phone call between Aoun and Netanyahu before the ceasefire, but these efforts fell through and Aoun refused to hold such a call. Nevertheless, Netanyahu agreed to a ceasefire in response to a request from Trump.<\/p>\n

What does the ceasefire agreement say?<\/p>\n

The official agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel noted the direct talks held recently, stating that the two countries \u201creached an understanding in which both nations will work to create conditions conducive to lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of each other\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establishing genuine security along their shared border, while preserving Israel\u2019s inherent right to self-defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agreement states that Israel agreed to the ceasefire as a \u201cgesture of goodwill\u201d so that the two countries could begin \u201cgood-faith negotiations toward a permanent security and peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Israel agreed to halt all offensive military operations against targets in Lebanon, the ceasefire deal says that Israel preserves the right to \u201ctake all necessary measures in self-defense, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.\u201d Meanwhile, the Lebanese government has committed to take all necessary action, with international support, to prevent Hezbollah or any other group from launching attacks from within Lebanon against Israel.<\/p>\n

Under the current agreement, Israel is not being required to withdraw from the parts of southern Lebanon it has taken control of over the past few weeks. Such a condition will likely be raised by Lebanese officials in talks being planned to extend the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Israeli officials express outrage at ceasefire<\/p>\n

Many Israeli officials, including members of the governing coalition and mayors from northern Israel, expressed outrage over the ceasefire agreement.<\/p>\n

Trump announced the ceasefire before the Israeli security cabinet was informed about the agreement and before they could even vote on the matter (Ceasefire agreements need to be approved by the Israeli security cabinet before they become official). Several members of the cabinet reportedly complained to Netanyahu that they learned about the ceasefire from media reports. Even after Netanyahu spoke with the security cabinet, no vote was held to approve the agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Israel\u2019s greatest friend, President Trump, works alongside us in close coordination, Israel cooperates with him. Our forces will remain at strategic points during the days of the ceasefire,\u201d Netanyahu told the members of the cabinet, according to Israeli media.<\/p>\n

Several hours later, Netanyahu published a video, stating \u201cI responded to [Trump\u2019s] call and agreed to a timeout, or more accurately, a temporary 10-day ceasefire, in order to try to advance the agreement that we began discussing with the ambassadors\u2019 meeting in Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

This photograph taken from the southern city of Tyre, shows rockets fired from Lebanon towards Israel on March 24, 2026. (Photo by KAWANT HAJU \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Many mayors from communities in northern Israel that have taken the brunt of Hezbollah\u2019s rocket and drone attacks over the past few weeks condemned the ceasefire deal as well, warning it would allow Hezbollah to rebuild and continue to threaten Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe citizens of the north feel betrayed once again today,\u201d said David Azulay, head of the Metula local council, adding that residents of the north had felt similarly betrayed after the last ceasefire reached in November 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the president of the United States is the one declaring a ceasefire only illustrates how disconnected the Israeli prime minister is from the people, and from the reality of the residents of the north,\u201d Azulay said.<\/p>\n

Moshe Davidovich, head of the Mateh Asher Regional Council and chairman of the Confrontation Line Forum, responded: \u201cThe agreements are signed with a tie in Washington, but the price is paid in blood, in destroyed homes and in dismantled communities here, in Mateh Asher and on the confrontation line (the name of the area along the Israeli side of most of the Lebanese border).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn announcement of a \u2018ceasefire\u2019 that does not include lethal enforcement against Hezbollah for any violations and a security buffer zone free of terror up to the Litani River is not a political achievement, but a sentence of waiting for the next massacre,\u201d Davidovich said. \u201cThe residents of the north are not statistics in an international public relations show. Until we see Hezbollah dismantled and our communities truly protected, any celebration of victory is nothing more than a scattering of sand in the eyes of the public. We will not return to being \u2018human pawns\u2019 of fragile agreements. These painful words are written and cry out from the blood of those who have been harmed and will continue to be harmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, Assaf Langelvan, defined the ceasefire as \u201ca pause between rounds [of fighting], between the previous round and the next round. The Israeli government\u2019s commitment is to ensure that the north will have a different reality \u2013 a reality in which children wake up in the morning without fear, without impacts that come without warnings, and without the noise of airplanes, helicopters, and artillery batteries. The north deserves a decision that will create real security, not a temporary illusion that ends in disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy head of the Lower Galilee Regional Council, Ofir Shik, warned that while a ceasefire may sound good to the U.S., \u201cin the Galilee we are students of experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe very much hope that this is not a political stutter at the expense of the security of the residents of the north. Temporary calm is not a solution \u2013 real security will only come with the complete dismantling of Hezbollah,\u201d Shik stressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire on Thursday, just days after direct talks were held between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[191,38,100,37,215,93,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-70184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-current-events","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-hezbollah","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-israel-iran-war","13":"tag-lebanon","14":"tag-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116420283326932149","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}