WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Israel and Lebanon have agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House on Thursday.
Trump said the meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States went “very well.” The meeting was the second high-level negotiation between the two countries since last week. The initial 10-day ceasefire, which took effect last Friday, had been due to expire on Monday.
“The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump said in a social media post. He added that he is looking forward to meeting in person with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun “in the near future..”
Trump greeted Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad and her Israeli counterpart Yechiel Leiter on their arrival. In addition to Trump, the U.S. was represented by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, State Department Counsellor Michael Needham, Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa.
“We hope that together, under your leadership, we can formalize peace between Israel and Lebanon in the very near future,” Leiter said in the Oval Office..
“I want.to really say thank you to the United States, under your leadership, for all your effort to help and to support Lebanon,” Hamadeh told Trump. “And I think with your help, with your support, we can make Lebanon great.”
Aoun said on Wednesday that Hamadeh would put forward an extension of the 10-day ceasefire. She also would ask for an end to Israeli home demolitions in villages and towns occupied by Israel after the latest war broke out on March 2, Aoun said in comments released by his office.
Preparations are being made for wider-reaching negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. The aim of the future talks is to “fully” stop Israeli attacks, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, deployment of Lebanese troops along the border and beginning the reconstruction process, Aoun said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has called on Lebanon to work with Israel to disarm the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
“We don’t have any serious disagreements with Lebanon. There are a few minor border disputes that can be solved,” Saar said during Independence Day remarks to Israel’s ambassadors and diplomatic corps in which he also described the neighboring country as a “failed state.”
“The obstacle to peace and normalization between the countries is one: Hezbollah,” he said, adding that Lebanon could have “a future of sovereignty, independence and freedom from the Iranian occupation.”
The latest war started when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after Israel and the U.S. launched attacks on Iran. Israel responded with widespread bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion in which it captured dozens of towns and villages along the border.
Israel’s military currently occupies a buffer zone stretching as much as 10 kilometers (6 miles) into southern Lebanon. Israel says it aims to remove the threat of short-range rockets and anti-tank missiles being fired toward northern Israel.
Hezbollah has rejected the talks. Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of the militant group’s political council, told The Associated Press that it will not abide by any agreements made during the direct talks.
Despite this, the talks are a major step for two countries with no diplomatic relations that officially have been at war since Israel’s inception in 1948.
The Lebanese government hopes the talks will pave the way to a permanent end to the war. While Iran has set ending the wars in Lebanon and the region as a condition for talks with the U.S., Lebanon insists on representing itself.
Since the ceasefire went into effect last week, there have been multiple violations by both side sides.
On Wednesday, Amal Khalil, a well-known Lebanese journalist covering southern Lebanon, was killed by an Israeli strike. Lebanese health officials said the Israeli military opened fire on an ambulance that responded to the scene, preventing rescuers from reaching her. Her body was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building several hours later.
The Israeli military denied that it had deliberately targeted journalists or fired on rescuers, but the case sparked widespread anger in Lebanon ahead of the Washington talks.
After a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri said the government is working on a report documenting alleged war crimes by Israel and that ministers had discussed joining the International Criminal Court.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war has killed around 2,300 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of women and children, and displaced over 1 million people.
Last week’s talks were the first between Israel and Lebanon since 1993. Both countries have relied on indirect communication, often brokered by the U.S. or UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s top political authorities, critical of Hezbollah’s decision to fire rockets toward Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran, quickly proposed direct talks in a bid to stop the escalation, hoping Israel would not launch its ground invasion.
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Mroue reported from Beirut. Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed.