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Trump says Israel and Lebanon agree to extend ceasefire by three weeks
The US president says he sees ‘great chance’ of a peace deal between the two countries this year after White House talks went ‘very well’
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Dewey Simin Washington
Israel and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to extend their ceasefire by three weeks after a second round of negotiations between their envoys in Washington, despite reports of violations of the truce from both sides.
US President Donald Trump announced the extension on social media, saying Washington “is going to work with Lebanon in order to protect itself from Hezbollah”.
“The Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS,” he wrote, calling the meeting “very historic” and saying the meeting went “very well”.
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Trump, who attended the talks at the White House, said he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun “in the near future”.
“I think there’s a very good chance of having peace. I think it should be an easy one,” he told reporters as he met with the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors.
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The ceasefire – which came into effect on April 16 and was initially set to last for 10 days – is expected to smooth some pain points in Washington’s shaky truce with Tehran, which Trump also extended this week.
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