The 10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire took effect Thursday at 5 P.M. local time and is holding on its first full day. The truce pauses fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah that had continued despite the earlier U.S.-Iran ceasefire.
President Trump issued his strongest public comments demanding that Israel uphold the agreement, after urging Hezbollah to do so. “Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday.
The ceasefire followed weeks of intense Israeli operations against Hezbollah command centers in southern Lebanon, Beirut, and the Beqaa Valley. Israeli forces have destroyed more than 40,000 homes in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese officials, to create what Israel describes as a “security buffer zone.”
An Israeli official told reporters Israel agreed to respond only to ‘imminent threats from Hezbollah.’ Hezbollah has so far held fire. Lebanese President Aoun said an ‘essential step’ to consolidating the ceasefire would be Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.