By Maayan Lubell, Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, April 15 (Reuters) – Israel’s security cabinet will convene on Wednesday to discuss a possible Lebanon ceasefire, a senior Israeli official said, more than six weeks into a war with Hezbollah that spiralled out of the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump earlier said the war with Iran could end soon, telling the world to watch out for an “amazing two days”, as the army chief of mediator Pakistan arrived in Tehran in a bid to prevent a renewed conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet will meet at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) over the possible ceasefire in Lebanon, the Israeli official said.
Senior Hezbollah official Ibrahim al-Moussawi told Reuters that diplomatic efforts by Iran and other regional states could produce a ceasefire soon, saying Tehran had used its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as leverage.
Two other senior Lebanese officials said they had been briefed that efforts were underway for a ceasefire. One of them said the U.S. had been pressuring Israel to work towards a ceasefire in Lebanon, including during rare talks between Israeli and Lebanese government envoys in Washington on Tuesday.
ISRAEL SETS HEZBOLLAH ‘NO-GO ZONE’
Israel’s offensive in Lebanon began on March 2 after the Iran-backed Hezbollah opened fire at Israel in support of Tehran, reigniting war between the foes just 15 months after their last major conflict.
The war has killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon and forced 1.2 million from their homes, Lebanese authorities say.
The Israeli military has sent troops into the south, where it has vowed to establish a buffer zone and maintain control over territory all the way up to the Litani River, which meets the Mediterranean about 30 km (20 miles) north of Israel’s border.
“I have instructed that the entire area of southern Lebanon up to the Litani River become a no-go zone for Hezbollah operatives,” the Israeli military’s chief of staff Eyal Zamir said during a visit to southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah attacks have killed two Israeli civilians while 13 soldiers have died in Lebanon since March 2, Israel says.
WASHINGTON TALKS
The two Lebanese officials did not have details on when any ceasefire would begin or how long it would last. They said the duration would likely be linked to how long a truce between the United States and Iran holds.
Tuesday’s meeting in Washington was the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in decades. Israel had ruled out discussion of a ceasefire with Lebanon during those talks.
Trump has urged Israel to scale back attacks in Lebanon, apparently to avoid undermining the ceasefire with Iran.
Iran has said Lebanon must be included in any agreement to end the wider war in the Middle East. Washington has pushed back, saying there is no link between the two sets of talks.
Hezbollah’s decision to open fire on March 2 sharply worsened long-standing tensions in Lebanon over its status as an armed group. The Lebanese government, which has been seeking Hezbollah’s peaceful disarmament since a war with Israel in 2024, banned the group’s military wing on March 2.
Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah condemned the government’s decision to hold talks with Israel. In a televised news conference, he said the government had “taken a wrong path that leads only to increasing the rift” among Lebanese.
LEBANON COMPLAINS TO UN ABOUT APRIL 8 ATTACKS
The Israeli military, which has previously ordered residents to leave swathes of the south, reiterated instructions for them to move north of the Zahrani River, saying in a post on X that it was operating with “great force” in the area. Israel last ordered residents to move north of the Zahrani on April 8.
The Zahrani runs north of the Litani.
Hezbollah announced new rocket attacks.
An Israeli government spokesperson said the group fired 40 rockets into Israel on Wednesday morning.
Israel has not carried out airstrikes on the Beirut area since April 8, when it launched its heaviest attacks yet.
Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry sent a formal complaint to the United Nations about Israel’s April 8 attacks. The Lebanese health ministry says the April 8 attacks killed 357 people, including 71 women and 30 children. Israel has said the strikes killed more than 250 Hezbollah militants.
U.N. experts on Wednesday condemned the strikes.
(Reporting by Jana Choukeir and Tala Ramadan in Dubai; Steven Scheer and Rami Ayyub in Jerusalem; Alexander Cornwell in Tel Aviv Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Alison Williams and Toby Chopra)
Comments