Trump says Hezbollah, Israel agree to stop fighting after call with Netanyahu
Neither Hezbollah nor Israel has confirmed the ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump, who made the declaration after Iran's IRGC threatened a major attack on northern Israel and warned it could close the Bab al-Mandeb strait if Israel followed through on plans to strike Beirut.
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Monday said that Israel and Hezbollah agreed to mutually halt their attacks in Lebanon after speaking on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel and there will be no troops going to Beirut," Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social, on Monday.
"Any troops that are on their way have already turned back," Trump claimed.
Trump further said he held "a very good call with Hezbollah" through "highly placed representatives" and that the militant party "agreed that all shooting will stop — that Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel."
Trump's announcement sparked momentary hopes of an end to a blistering Israeli offensive launched last week despite a US-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon. The assault has forced thousands of civilians to flee the country's south.
Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Monday that Israel would begin striking Beirut's southern suburb of Dahiyeh in response to continued drone attacks by Hezbollah.
Trump instructed Netanyahu to suspend the planned strikes on Dahiyeh, a well-placed Israeli source told Al-Monitor. Israeli Air Force units were preparing to take off when their orders were canceled, the source said.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Monday responded to Netanyahu and Katz's statement by warning residents of Israel to evacuate the country's north and avoid military installations in Israel, signaling intent to retaliate heavily if Israel proceeds with plans to bomb Dahiyeh or Beirut.
Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency, which has links to the IRGC, also said Iran would "activate other fronts" in response, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key commercial waterway linking the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea and a major alternative route to the already closed Strait of Hormuz.
Minutes after Trump’s announcement, Hezbollah announced it targeted Israeli soldiers near the town of Yohmor — located about 9 kilometers (5.5 miles) south of Nabatieh — with rockets and drones.
The office of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement on X that Hezbollah had agreed to a proposal conveyed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Aoun last week calling for a mutual cessation of hostilities with Israel.
Under the proposed arrangement, Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs would cease in exchange for Hezbollah halting attacks on Israel, with the ceasefire framework later expanded "to encompass all Lebanese territories," Aoun's office said.
Aoun's office said that Trump later informed Lebanon's ambassador to Washington, Nada Maawad, that Netanyahu had approved the proposal. Maawad then conveyed the message to Aoun, who relayed it to Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said on Monday that the death toll in the country since fighting renewed in early March had risen to 3,433. Later, the ministry reported that two people were killed by Israeli strikes on the Jabal Amel Hospital near the southern city of Tyre.
Netanyahu said in a statement that if Hezbollah does not stop attacking Israeli towns and civilians, Israel “will strike terror targets in Beirut.” He maintained that “our position on the matter has not changed” and said the Israeli military would continue its operations in southern Lebanon as planned.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid slammed the prime minister for reportedly backing down under American pressure, implying in a post on X that Israel under Netanyahu had become “a full-fledged protectorate" of the United States.
Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman also criticized the premier, saying that “it is unacceptable that the north of the country has been under heavy shelling for days on end. Soldiers are wounded, killed, and the Prime Minister of Israel is waiting for Trump’s approval to bomb Dahiyeh. We are not a banana republic. We must flatten Dahiyeh now, and not stop until the last building there is demolished.”
