Israel, Lebanon agree to conditional ceasefire
Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after US-led talks in Washington.
The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces “will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all nonstate actors.”
The development came despite continued cross-border attacks earlier in the day, with Hezbollah saying it targeted Israeli troops and Israeli strikes killing at least 10 people in southern Lebanon.
Just hours after the agreement was announced, air raid alarms sounded in northern Israel with a “suspicious aerial target” identified without causing any casualties.
Lebanese official media, meanwhile, reported Israeli airstrikes in the country’s south on Thursday.
Fourth round of talks
The joint statement said the ceasefire was “contingent on a complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah as well as evacuation of the group’s operatives from southern Lebanon.
The meetings in Washington were the fourth round of direct talks by Lebanese and Israeli diplomats since fighting erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah renewed attacks against Israel in support of Iran.
Both sides will meet for more talks the week of June 22, the statement said, “with a view toward reaching a comprehensive agreement.”
Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump said he wanted to separate talks on the conflict in Lebanon and those on the war with Iran.
Tehran, however, insists the conflicts are linked and its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that any attack on Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of war.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir criticized on Thursday the ceasefire deal, calling it a “serious mistake.”
“The ceasefire with Lebanon is a serious mistake and the pipe dreams of advisers are dragging the prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) to wrong decisions,” the minister wrote on X.
Rocket barrage
Hezbollah, for its part, said that “in response to the Israeli enemy army’s violation of the ceasefire,” its fighters targeted soldiers in northern Israel with a rocket barrage.
Early Thursday, the pro-Iranian group said it aimed a “salvo of rockets” at Israeli soldiers and vehicles in the southern Lebanon town of Al-Qantara, and also targeted an Israeli command position near the Chqif Castle with two drones.
A truce to halt the fighting in Lebanon was meant to take hold on April 17, but has never been observed, with both sides justifying their ongoing attacks by the other’s alleged violations.
Senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati had told AFP on Tuesday that the group would “not accept a partial ceasefire.”
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