(SeaPRwire) – On Thursday, President Donald Trump declared that Israel and Lebanon have consented to a temporary halt in hostilities. This follows weeks of Israeli strikes aimed at the Iran-supported militant group Hezbollah, which have resulted in over 2,000 deaths in Lebanon and heightened tensions in U.S.-Iran negotiations.
In a Truth Social post, Trump stated he had discussions with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who “have agreed that to attain PEACE between their Nations, a formal 10 Day CEASEFIRE will commence at 5 P.M. EST.”
“I have instructed Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Rubio, along with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Razin’ Caine, to collaborate with Israel and Lebanon to secure a Lasting PEACE,” Trump wrote.
Soon after, in a subsequent post, Trump mentioned he would extend an invitation to Aoun and Netanyahu to visit the White House for what he called the “first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983, a very long time ago.”
”Both parties desire PEACE, and I am confident it will occur swiftly!” the President stated.
Earlier on Thursday, Aoun’s office reported that the Lebanese president and Trump held a phone conversation prior to Trump’s ceasefire declaration.
“In the call, President Aoun expressed renewed gratitude for Trump’s endeavors to broker a ceasefire in Lebanon and ensure enduring peace and stability, which would facilitate the regional peace process,” the Lebanese presidency posted on X. “He hoped these efforts would persist to halt the fighting as soon as possible. Trump replied with assurances of his support for President Aoun and Lebanon, stressing his dedication to fulfilling Lebanon’s appeal for a ceasefire at the earliest opportunity.”
Officials from Israel and Lebanon convened in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for “working-level peace talks” aimed at concluding Israel’s military operations in Lebanon.
After the meeting, both Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., and the State Department offered optimistic assessments of the discussions.
Leiter informed reporters that Lebanon needs to sever all ties with Tehran and Hezbollah “completely.”
“Today we found that we’re on the same side of the equation. That’s the most encouraging outcome we could have achieved,” the ambassador remarked. “We share a common goal of freeing Lebanon from an occupying force controlled by Iran known as Hezbollah.”
According to the Lebanese health ministry, Israeli offensives in Lebanon have claimed at least 2,000 lives since Hezbollah entered the Iran conflict in early March. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) reports that over one million individuals have been displaced since the outbreak of violence. TIME has not been able to confirm these numbers independently.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content.
Category: Top News, Daily News
SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.