Tense Israel-Lebanon ceasefire holds in potential boost for Iran war peace deal prospects

Hezbollah, the U.S.-designated terrorist group and close Iranian ally in Lebanon that’s been at war with Israel on and off for years, indicated tacitly on Friday that it would respect the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon announced by President Trump the previous day.

Hezbollah was not a formal party to the ceasefire, which took effect at 5 p.m. Eastern, agreed between the leaders of Israel and Lebanon. But it is Hezbollah — not Lebanese forces — that fired rockets at Israeli towns and cities during the war sparked by the joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

Israel ramped up its assault in Lebanon against Hezbollah targets in tandem with its joint strikes with the U.S. in Iran, also launching an extensive ground invasion which has seen Israeli forces occupy a significant portion of southern Lebanon. Lebanese officials say the Israeli operations have killed more than 2,000 people, including many women and children, and driven more than 1 million people from their homes.

Hezbollah issued a statement Friday lauding its attacks on Israel during the war, claiming thousands of strikes on Israeli positions and settlements in retaliation for Israel’s attacks on Lebanese territory. The statement stressed that Hezbollah fighters would remain prepared for any new escalation.

“The hands of these fighters will remain on the trigger, anticipating the enemy’s treachery and violation of promises,” the group warned.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has been a key intermediary helping to broker U.S.-Iran dialogue, including the ongoing two-week ceasefire, welcomed on Friday the tandem ceasefire agreed to the previous day by the Israeli and Lebanese leaders, which was announced by President Trump.

“I welcome the announcement of a ceasefire in Lebanon, facilitated through bold and sagacious diplomatic efforts led by President Donald Trump, and express the hope that it will pave the way for sustainable peace,” Sharif said in a social media post.

“Pakistan reaffirms its unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon, and will continue to support all efforts aimed at lasting peace in the region,” he said.

Sharif and Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, have worked feverishly this week, visiting Persian Gulf capitals and holding phone calls with U.S. and Iranian officials, to broker a new round of direct talks between Iran and the U.S.

No date has been set for that second round of talks yet, but the agreement to stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could help smooth the path for such direct negotiations, as Israel’s attacks in Lebanon remained a major sticking point after the previous round.

A 10-day truce appeared to be mostly intact in Lebanon early Friday, promising a pause in fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group and possibly clearing one major obstacle to a deal between Iran and the United States and Israel to end weeks of devastating war. The ceasefire began at 5 p.m. EDT.  

But it remained unclear whether Israel and Hezbollah would completely stop strikes on one another and whether the militant group would recognize a deal it did not play a role in negotiating and that will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese army posted on social media that there had been “a number of violations of the agreement, with several Israeli attacks recorded, in addition to intermittent shelling targeting a number of villages.” And French President President Emmanuel Macron said Friday he was concerned that the ceasefire “may already be undermined by ongoing military operations,” French news agency AFP reported.

Still, barrages of gunshots rang out across Beirut as residents fired into the air just after midnight to celebrate the beginning of the truce, and displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to attempt to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.

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President Trump said on his Truth Social platform late Thursday night, after the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire came into effect, that it “May have been a historic day for Lebanon. Good things are happening!!!”

Mr. Trump announced earlier that Lebanon and Israel had agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, which took effect at 5 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, or midnight local time in the Mideast.

Earlier Thursday, Mr. Trump said on Truth Social that he hopes Hezbollah “acts nicely and well during this important period in time. It will be an GREAT moment for them if they do. No more killing. Must finally have PEACE!”

President Trump said Thursday night that “the war in Iran is going along swimmingly.”

“We had to do a little journey down to Iran, and I didn’t want to do that, but we had to because we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” the president said during an event in Las Vegas.

The president predicted that the war “should be ending pretty soon,” a prediction he has made in the past. The U.S. and Iran are currently nine days into a two-week ceasefire, buying the two sides time to negotiate, and Mr. Trump told reporters earlier Thursday that “if there’s no deal, fighting resumes.”

But he was optimistic about ongoing indirect negotiations with Tehran, as Pakistani mediators work to organize a new round of direct talks between U.S. and Iranian officials that Mr. Trump has said come as soon as this weekend — and yield “amazing” results. 

We’re “going to have victory very shortly,” Mr. Trump said in Las Vegas, adding: “Let’s see what happens over the next week or so.”

U.S. Central Command said Thursday that it is using more than 10,000 U.S. service members — along with at least 12 ships and 100 aircraft — to enforce its ongoing blockade of Iranian ports.

CENTCOM, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, reiterated in a social media post that U.S. forces are not blockading the Strait of Hormuz itself, but instead “Iran’s ports and coastline.” 

The U.S. began its blockade on Monday. CENTCOM said earlier Thursday that 14 vessels have so far “turned around to comply with the blockade” since it took effect. 

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a news conference earlier in the day that the U.S. would “use force” on any ships that do not comply.