President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to extend their ceasefire by three weeks, following a second round of US-facilitated talks at the White House. The extension came just days before the initial 10-day truce — which went into effect last Friday — was due to expire. Trump hosted Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador Nada Moawad in the Oval Office, alongside Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US ambassadors to both countries. "I think there's a very good chance of having peace. I think it should be an easy one," Trump told reporters, adding that he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in person in the near future.
The talks mark a historically significant moment: Lebanon and Israel have had no formal diplomatic relations since Israel's founding in 1948, and last week's initial meeting was the first direct diplomatic contact between the two countries in decades. The Lebanese side pushed for Israeli troop withdrawal from a buffer zone — stretching up to 10 kilometres into southern Lebanon — as well as the release of Lebanese detainees held in Israel and a delineation of the land border. Israel's ambassador argued that the talks must focus on dismantling Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned armed group that was founded by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "If Hezbollah and IRGC operatives continue to be treated with kid gloves, a real process of achieving our mutual goal will remain unachievable," Leiter said. Hezbollah, which opposes the direct talks entirely, said it would not abide by any agreements reached through them, though a senior lawmaker from the group said it wanted the ceasefire to continue "on the basis of full compliance by the Israeli enemy."
The ceasefire has been fragile. Wednesday was the deadliest day since the truce took effect, with Israeli strikes killing several people including Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, who was covering events in southern Lebanon for Al-Akhbar newspaper. Lebanese health officials said an ambulance dispatched to the scene was fired upon, preventing rescuers from reaching her. Hundreds attended her funeral Thursday in the southern village of Baysariyeh. Israel's military denied deliberately targeting journalists and said it was reviewing the incident, while Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the attack a war crime. Lebanon's cabinet discussed the possibility of joining the International Criminal Court.
Beyond Lebanon, the broader regional conflict remains unresolved. US-Iran negotiations — which had been expected to resume in Pakistan — appear to have stalled, with no delegations heading to Islamabad as of Thursday. The two sides remain locked in a tense standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas ordinarily flows. Iran has effectively closed the strait in retaliation for a US naval blockade of its ports, while Trump ordered the US Navy to "shoot and kill" any Iranian vessels caught laying mines there. A third American aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, arrived in the Middle East on Thursday. Trump insisted it was Iran, not the US, that was under time pressure, writing on social media: "I have all the time in the World, but Iran doesn't — The clock is ticking." Iranian leaders responded with a show of unity, with the president, parliament speaker and chief justice all posting an identical message: "One God, one nation, one leader, and one path."
The three-week ceasefire extension offers a narrow window for diplomacy in Lebanon, but fundamental disagreements — over Hezbollah's role, Israeli troop presence, and the broader US-Iran confrontation — mean a durable settlement remains distant. European leaders are set to hold talks Friday with counterparts from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan over the crisis, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz sends ripples through global energy markets.