Israel and Lebanon have agreed to extend their ceasefire by three weeks following a meeting in the White House, President Trump announced Thursday from the Oval Office.
The announcement came following a meeting at the White House that included diplomats from Israel, Lebanon and the U.S. A ceasefire that went into effect last Friday had been due to expire on Monday.
Mr. Trump said he hopes the ceasefire leads to a broader peace agreement between the two countries, which have officially been at war since 1948. Since the ceasefire went into effect last week, there have been multiple violations by both sides.
“I think there’s a great chance. They are friends about the same things and they are enemies on the same things,” he said about the possibility of a durable peace deal.
“We’re going to be working with Lebanon to get things straightened out in that country,” Mr. Trump continued. “I really believe it’s something we can do pretty easily, just with the power of who we are.”
Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad and Israeli counterpart Yecheil Leiter represented their countries during talks at the White House. The U.S. was represented by Vice President J. D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others.
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The current war began when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel just days after the Jewish state partnered with the U.S. to launch attacks on Iran. Israel responded with a bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion, capturing scores of towns and villages along the border.
Last week’s talks were the first between Israel and Lebanon since 1993. Both countries have long relied on indirect communications using the U.S. or the United Nations as an intermediary.
Mr. Trump said he expects the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to visit the White House soon.
“We had a great meeting with the very high officials of Lebanon and the very high officials of Israel, and I think that the president of Lebanon and the prime minister of Israel, over the next couple of weeks, will be coming here,” he said.
“They’ve agreed to an additional three weeks of, I guess, no firing — ceasefire — no more firing. Let’s see. We hope that happens. It’s not going to happen between them, but we still have Hezbollah to think about,” Mr. Trump added.
He said that having the leaders at the White House to discuss permanent peace would be “historic.”
“They have never met, they’re next to each other and they’ve never met,” he said.
