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Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun told local outlets on Thursday that a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreed the previous evening between Lebanon and Israel could come into force within 24 hours of all concerned parties approving it.
The comments appeared to refer to Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which has yet to comment on the ceasefire announced after talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials in Washington.
Hezbollah — the Iran-backed group considered a terrorist entity in several countries, including Canada — is opposed to the direct talks and has continued firing at Israeli troops in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has yet to comment on the agreement. It had demanded that Lebanon quit the talks.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Thursday the military would continue to strike Lebanon for the time being and won’t withdraw from the south.
The same day, Israel carried out several attacks in southern Lebanon, security sources said. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported a drone strike on a motorbike killed one person and wounded another. A drone buzzed over Beirut.
Peacekeeper killed, 2 others injured
The UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL said a UN peacekeeper died Thursday after mortar shells hit his position near Marjayoun in southeastern Lebanon. UNIFIL, which did not say where the shells originated, said two other peacekeepers were wounded and it had opened an investigation into the incident.
The Israeli military, in a warning to residents of the south, said it was continuing to target Hezbollah facilities.
The war has continued despite several ceasefires declared from Washington since April. Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited March 2, when the group opened fire in support of Tehran as it came under U.S.-Israeli attack.
The war has become a sticking point in diplomacy towards resolving the regional conflict. Tehran, whose Revolutionary Guards established Hezbollah in 1982, has demanded an end to Israeli attacks in Lebanon as part of any deal. Tehran has suggested in recent days that it could intervene directly in support of its proxy Hezbollah if Israel keeps up or escalates attacks there.
A statement released by the U.S. State Department said the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire was contingent on Hezbollah completely halting fire, and the evacuation of all its operatives from the area between the border and the Litani River.
In his statement, Katz said Israeli forces would remain in the security zone, including the area of Beaufort castle, seized by Israeli forces at the weekend, “and without the return of the population,” Katz added. Israel “will, for the time being, continue its fire and operations on the ground.”
Israel’s campaign has forced some 1.2 million people to flee their homes, including hundreds of thousands from southern Lebanon, Lebanese authorities and UN agencies say.
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Netanyahu’s security minister criticizes deal
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the ceasefire a “serious mistake” and said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should bring it to the cabinet for a vote.
Ben-Gvir said Hezbollah would not withdraw its fighters from the area south of the Litani River and Lebanon’s Armed Forces were incapable of forcing Hezbollah to comply.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel would not carry out attacks on Beirut after Netanyahu had said he’d ordered strikes on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs.
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That announcement prompted criticism from Netanyahu’s political opponents, and some allies, that the prime minister had ceded sovereignty.
Katz said Israel would continue to “dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area” while Israel had “freedom of action, backed by the United States, to strike in Beirut in response to attacks on Israeli communities and territory.”
Lebanese ambassador to Washington Nada Hamadeh Moawad called the deal brokered by the U.S. “a very historic moment for Lebanon.”
The joint statement said Lebanon and Israel agreed “to swiftly advance the creation of pilot zones in which the Lebanese Armed Forces will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors.”
Lebanon’s army deployed into the south as part of a ceasefire agreed in November 2024 to end the last Hezbollah-Israel war, and declared in January that it had established control over the area between the border and the Litani.
