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A ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon to halt an Israeli war against Hizbollah is expected to be announced “soon”, according to Lebanese officials, amid US pressure to reduce tensions in the Middle East.
A truce between Israel and the Lebanese militant group could come into effect “this week”, most likely after Israeli ground forces finish taking the key town of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, said two people familiar with the matter.
The conflict in Lebanon has become a sticking point in broader efforts to end the US-Israeli war against Iran that began on February 28.
US President Donald Trump announced a 14-day ceasefire with Iran — which also applied to Israel — on Tuesday last week but Washington and Tehran failed to agree a lasting peace deal in talks in Islamabad at the weekend.
Iran and Pakistan, which has acted as mediator, have insisted Lebanon is part of the ceasefire but the US and Israel have stated it was not. Hizbollah is Iran’s most important proxy force in the Middle East.
Pakistan’s military chief Asim Munir arrived in Tehran on Wednesday as efforts continue to try to reach a deal between the US and Iran — with Trump saying a second round of talks between the two sides could happen “over the next two days”.
A senior Trump administration official said on Wednesday that Washington had not sought a ceasefire in Lebanon, adding the matter was separate from negotiations with Iran.
“This is not something we have asked for nor is it part of the peace negotiations with Iran, but the president would welcome the end of hostilities in Lebanon as part of a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon,” they added.
The official said the US was focused on building trust between the Israeli and Lebanese governments to “create space” for a peace deal.
In a statement on Wednesday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces were continuing “to strike” Hizbollah in southern Lebanon and “reinforcing” a self-declared security zone inside the country.
Netanyahu added the fighting was focused on Bint Jbeil, which he called a Hizbollah stronghold that Israeli troops were “about to defeat”.
Should a ceasefire in Lebanon be announced, its length would likely be tied to how long the truce between the US and Iran holds, Lebanese officials said.
Israel launched its latest offensive in Lebanon after Hizbollah began firing rockets at the Jewish state in retaliation for Israeli forces’ killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the war.
Israel has carried out a massive bombardment of Lebanon, and sent troops across the border in a bid to secure what some Israeli officials have described as a “buffer zone” stretching some 8km-10km into Lebanese territory.
At least 2,167 people have been killed in Lebanon since the outbreak of fighting on March 2, including 260 women, 172 children and 91 medical personnel, according to the country’s health ministry.
More than 1mn people have been displaced by the fighting, in a spiralling humanitarian crisis.
According to Israeli authorities, more than a dozen soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in Lebanon, with two civilians killed in Hizbollah rocket barrages.
One Lebanese official said a ceasefire would encompass a halt to Israel’s strikes and not a withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Other officials said efforts to secure the ceasefire were being led by the US, which brokered the first direct talks between Lebanon and Israel in decades on Tuesday in Washington.
“The meeting in Washington was the scene needed to deprive Iran and Hizbollah of the claim that they were the ones enforcing a ceasefire,” said one official.
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