Lebanon says Hezbollah has accepted a US plan for a mutual cessation of attacks with Israel, under which Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs would stop in exchange for the Iran-backed group halting attacks on Israel.
The Lebanese embassy in Washington confirmed Hezbollah’s acceptance late on Monday, adding that the arrangement was to be extended to “all Lebanese territory”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the agreement but said strikes on Beirut would resume “if Hezbollah does not stop attacking our cities and civilians,” and that the IDF would “continue to operate in southern Lebanon as planned”.
The announcement followed posts on Truth Social by US President Donald Trump, who said he had spoken to both Netanyahu and Hezbollah representatives and that “they agreed that all shooting will stop”. Hours later, however, the Israeli military said it had intercepted two projectiles fired from Lebanon, and Hezbollah said it had struck Israeli tanks and soldiers near two villages in northern Israel using drones and artillery. Lebanon’s state news agency reported fresh Israeli strikes on several southern areas, including a “very violent detonation” in the town of Debbine.
Trump’s intervention came after Netanyahu ordered a deeper incursion into southern Lebanon over the weekend and after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that the US-Iran truce was “unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon”. Iran’s Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Tehran could suspend indirect talks with Washington and activate other fronts including the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Trump insisted talks with Iran were continuing at a “rapid pace”. The reciprocal halt is the second attempted Lebanon pause in two months, after a 10-day ceasefire announced in April that ultimately broke down.
