The United States has announced that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to begin implementing a ceasefire arrangement aimed at reducing hostilities along the border.
In a statement released by the US State Department, officials said the deal remains “contingent on a complete cessation” of attacks by the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, alongside several other conditions.
The development comes after renewed violence earlier this week. Israeli air strikes reportedly killed at least nine people in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, while Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel, putting pressure on a fragile truce first reached in April.
“All countries reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments. They rejected any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon’s future hostage,” the statement said.
As part of the agreement, Hezbollah fighters are expected to withdraw from territory stretching between the Litani River and the Israeli border in southern Lebanon.
According to the statement, the US will assist in establishing “pilot zones in which the Lebanese Armed Forces will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors”.
The announcement followed a limited ceasefire arrangement reached on Monday.
Lebanese authorities said the understanding would see Israel halt strikes on Beirut, while Hezbollah would stop attacks targeting Israel.
Further negotiations are scheduled for 22 June as both sides attempt to move toward what officials described as a broader agreement. Hezbollah has not publicly responded to the latest announcement.
Before the statement was released, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed hope that the talks would create “an action plan on a track for security in [Lebanon], independent from Hezbollah”.
Despite the diplomatic efforts, clashes continued during the week.
Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli attacks on Wednesday killed several people, including two paramedics whose ambulance was struck in the southern Chehour area. Another vehicle was reportedly targeted south of Beirut.
Israel’s military, meanwhile, said it intercepted a drone and two projectiles crossing from Lebanon. Hezbollah later claimed responsibility for targeting Israeli troop positions.
Prior to Wednesday’s announcement, Israeli leaders warned that military operations in Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahieh, would resume if Hezbollah continued cross-border attacks.
Lebanese officials said the Monday arrangement stipulated that “Israel will not launch a broad offensive on Beirut in exchange for Hezbollah refraining from launching attacks against Israel”.
Although Lebanon said Hezbollah accepted the arrangement, Mahmoud Qamati, a member of Hezbollah’s political council, dismissed the claims in comments to the BBC.
“There was no ceasefire agreement, just the protection of Dahieh.”
Qamati also rejected the ongoing Lebanese-Israeli discussions taking place in Washington.
“We think these negotiations do not concern us, nor do we recognise their findings or decisions, because we have rejected them on principle,” he said.
The current conflict expanded on 2 March after Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel following an Israeli strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader. Israel responded with a major air campaign and ground operations in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah is regarded as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United Kingdom, the United States and several other countries.
A ceasefire brokered by Washington on 16 April failed to stop the violence, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later ordered intensified military operations in response to continued drone and rocket attacks.
Lebanese authorities say at least 3,516 people have died since the conflict began, while the United Nations estimates that more than one million people have been displaced.
Israel has reported that 26 soldiers and four civilians have been killed during the fighting.
Lebanese media on Wednesday reported additional Israeli strikes across southern regions of the country.
The health ministry said six people, including Syrians and Palestinians, were killed in al-Housh near the coastal city of Tyre.
Officials also accused Israeli forces of violating international humanitarian law after an ambulance affiliated with the Amal movement was allegedly targeted in Chehour, killing two paramedics and seriously injuring another.
At least 128 healthcare workers and paramedics have reportedly died in attacks involving ambulances and medical facilities over the past three months, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel’s military did not immediately comment, though it has previously accused armed groups of using ambulances for military purposes.
The Lebanese army also announced that one soldier was killed in an Israeli drone strike near Nabatieh, while two others were wounded in another attack targeting a military vehicle.
The army condemned what it described as “a pattern of deliberate strikes targeting army personnel, vehicles and positions”.
In Beirut, many displaced residents living in temporary shelters expressed frustration that the ceasefire efforts did not fully protect the country.
“I don’t think it’s fair, because always the south is being bombed, and the houses [are] being damaged, destroyed, people are dying,” 23-year-old student Mariam Hessa told the BBC.
“I want the ceasefire to be for all Lebanon, not just for an area like Dahieh or even the south. No, it’s for all Lebanon. We need this.”
US President Donald Trump, who announced the limited ceasefire earlier this week, appeared to confirm reports that he personally intervened after criticising Netanyahu over plans to strike Beirut.
“I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon,” Trump told the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast. “At some point, I said: ‘Bibi [Netanyahu], we’ve got to stop this.'”
Although Netanyahu later agreed to avoid striking Beirut, he maintained that Israeli operations in southern Lebanon would continue.
Responding to questions during an interview with CNBC, Netanyahu said: “Sometimes, like the best families, we have these tactical disagreements. We always find a way to resolve them.”
Reports suggest Trump fears a wider escalation in Lebanon could derail broader negotiations involving the US, Israel and Iran.
Iran has warned that any regional ceasefire arrangement should also include Lebanon.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reportedly warned on Wednesday that if attacks on Beirut continued, Iran’s armed forces were “fully prepared” to resume military action.
However, later in the day, Trump insisted he wanted to keep negotiations over Iran separate from discussions involving Lebanon.
“I’d like to separate it, I’d like to have a separate thing, because it is… separate,” the US president told reporters.
