Washington: Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, Donald Trump said on Thursday.
The truce will take effect at 9 p.m. GMT on Thursday, the US president announced in a social media post.
The agreement was reached after Trump held “excellent conversations” with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M. EST,” Trump said on his Truth Social network, without mentioning Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.
The agreement comes two days after Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades in Washington and aims to end more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
Trump said he had directed US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and top US military officer Dan Caine to work with the two countries “to achieve a Lasting PEACE.”
The president also invited the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to the White House for what he said would be “the first meaningful talks” between the countries since 1983.
“Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly,” Trump wrote in his post.
“It has been my Honor to solve 9 Wars across the World, and this will be my 10th, so let’s, GET IT DONE!” said Trump, who launched the war on Iran alongside Israel on February 28.
Since then, Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than one million, and Israeli ground forces have invaded the country’s south, AFP reported.
Trump said late Wednesday that Aoun and Netanyahu were due to speak on Thursday, but there was no confirmation that any such call had happened.
