Washington (AP) – President Donald Trump says Israel and Lebanon have agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House on Thursday.
Trump says the meeting between Israel’s and Lebanon’s ambassadors to the United States went “very well.” The meeting was the second high-level negotiation between the two countries since last week.
The initial 10-day ceasefire, which took effect last Friday, had been due to expire Monday.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday that Hamadeh will put forward an extension of the 10-day ceasefire that went into effect last Friday. She also will ask for an end to Israeli home demolitions in villages and towns occupied by Israel after the latest war broke out on March 2, Aoun said in comments released by his office.
Preparations are being made for wider-reaching negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. The aim of the future talks is to “fully” stop Israeli attacks, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, deployment of Lebanese troops along the border and beginning the reconstruction process, Aoun said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has called on Lebanon to work with Israel to disarm the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
“We don’t have any serious disagreements with Lebanon. There are a few minor border disputes that can be solved,” Saar said during Independence Day remarks to Israel’s ambassadors and diplomatic corps in which he also described the neighboring country as a “failed state.”
“The obstacle to peace and normalization between the countries is one: Hezbollah,” he said, adding that Lebanon could have “a future of sovereignty, independence and freedom from the Iranian occupation.”
