ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Israel and Lebanon agreed on a US-brokered cessation of hostilities on Thursday, under which members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon would withdraw from areas up to 30 kilometers from Israel’s northern border in southern Lebanon.
The agreement comes shortly after Iran warned that Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital constitute a violation of its ceasefire with the United States, while Lebanese state media reported that Israeli strikes in the country continued despite the Thursday truce.
“As a result of the U.S.-led negotiations, Israel and Lebanon agreed to the implementation of a ceasefire,” following a “fourth high-level trilateral meeting between Israeli and Lebanese representatives” earlier this week, the US Department of State said in a statement.
“The ceasefire is contingent on a complete cessation of Hizbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hizbollah operatives from the South Litani Sector” - a zone stretching between the Litani River in southern Lebanon and the UN-demarcated Blue Line marking the Israeli border. The east-west corridor ranges between 18 and 30 kilometers from the latter border.
The State Department further said that Israel and Lebanon agreed to “swiftly advance the creation of pilot zones in which the Lebanese Armed Forces will exercise exclusive control over the territory, to the exclusion of all non-state actors,” a move it said would “enable progress toward a comprehensive peace and security agreement.”
“Israel reaffirmed that its security and respect for its territorial integrity can only be achieved through the disarmament of Hezbollah and the dismantling of its infrastructure,” while Lebanon stressed “the necessity of mutual respect for internationally recognized borders” and “the urgent need for the full implementation of the cessation of hostilities.”
The announcement came as Israel and Hezbollah have been locked in confrontations since early March, when the Iran-aligned Lebanese group launched an initial attack on northern Israel, which was followed by hundreds of Israeli air raids on what it said were Hezbollah targets across Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s action formed part of Tehran’s broader response to the US-Israeli aerial campaign against Iran in late February, during which thousands of targets across the country were struck over six weeks of hostilities.
Iran had launched thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting what it described as US assets - particularly in Gulf Arab states - while also carrying out retaliatory attacks against Israel.
Tehran and Washington later agreed to a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire on April 8, halting fighting to allow space for talks. While the first round of talks concluded without a final agreement on April 11, a second round has yet to take place.
Simultaneously, US-brokered peace talks between Israel and Lebanon opened in Washington in mid-April, marking the first high-level contact between the two countries since 1993 and leading to a 10-day ceasefire.
A second round followed in late April, and a third in mid-May, during which both sides agreed on a negotiating framework and a 45-day ceasefire extension. However, despite the Israel-Hezbollah truce in Lebanon formally beginning on April 17, it has yet to be observed, with both sides violating it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday issued a joint statement saying they ordered strikes on Beirut's densely populated southern suburb, widely known as Dahiyeh.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded that Israeli strikes in Lebanon violate the ceasefire agreement brokered between his country and the US.
“The ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon,” Araghchi said in a Monday post on X, warning that “its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts” and that “the US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation.”
This as media affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported that day that Tehran was suspending indirect communications with Washington until Tel Aviv halts its escalation on the Lebanese front.
In a seeming response to Iran’s position, the State Department statement on Thursday cited Israel and Lebanon as affirming that “the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments,” while rejecting “any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon’s future hostage.”
“Any agreement to cease hostilities must be reached directly between the two governments, brokered by the United States, and not through any separate track,” the statement added.
Despite the truce, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) has reported around 30 Israeli strikes across the country since the ceasefire was announced. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for at least two attacks targeting Israeli soldiers during the same period.
Of note, the US State Department said that the Israeli and Lebanese sides “agreed to reconvene the political and security tracks during the week of June 22, with a view to reaching a comprehensive agreement,” under US facilitation.
