Israel and Lebanon announced a new U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal on Wednesday and pledged to work toward a “comprehensive” agreement, the three governments said in a joint statement.
The announcement may help to remove an obstacle in the talks between the United States and Iran. It demanded a unilateral cessation of attacks by Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed group, but did not explicitly require immediate concessions from Israel, such as a withdrawal of its forces from southern Lebanon. Israeli troops have occupied much of the region since invading during the latest war.
The U.S.-brokered agreement said that a cease-fire was “contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire” and “the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives” from the border region with Israel. The group is not a party to the negotiations or answerable to the Lebanese government, however, raising questions about whether the deal could be enforced.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Tehran on March 1, a day after the U.S.-Israeli strikes began on Iran, the group’s chief patron. Israel then escalated the conflict, bombarding Hezbollah strongholds in and around the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and beyond. Israeli troops also pushed deeper into southern Lebanon, where it has occupied positions since a 2024 war.
The new agreement was reached after Israeli and Lebanese officials met in Washington this week for talks. The deal calls for the creation of “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese military would “take exclusive control.” All “nonstate actors” would be barred, it said, an apparent reference to Hezbollah.
The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has complicated talks to end the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. Tehran has called for Lebanon to be part of any peace deal. Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, said in a recent speech that he welcomed an agreement between Iran and the United States that would include a truce in Lebanon, but rejected the direct talks between Israel and Lebanon.
In April, a U.S.-brokered cease-fire took effect in Lebanon, but tit-for-tat attacks have continued. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has escalated his rhetoric about Hezbollah in recent weeks, even as truce talks with Lebanon — and the negotiations between Iran and the United States — have taken place.
“We are at war with Hezbollah,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a video on social media late last month, pledging to intensify attacks on the group.
This week, Mr. Netanyahu threatened to bomb Beirut, then backed off after Iran said it would withdraw from talks with the United States and President Trump announced the cease-fire in Lebanon was back on.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, on Monday called on Mr. Netanyahu to reject calls for restraint and to “do what is required and necessary to strike Hezbollah, to unleash the hands of our fighters.”
The joint statement attributed to the United States, Lebanon and Israel “reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments,” and “rejected any attempt, by any state or nonstate actor, to hold Lebanon’s future hostage.”
But disarming Hezbollah and asserting control over Lebanon has been a longstanding challenge for Lebanese governments and armed forces.
More than 3,500 Lebanese and at least 30 Israelis have been killed in the fighting this year between Hezbollah and Israel, according to the authorities in both countries.
The delegations from Lebanon and Israel discussed a security framework, including “the dismantlement” of armed groups, and “Lebanon committed to enhancing the capacity of the Lebanese Armed Forces, with U.S. support,” their statement said on Wednesday.
Lebanon and Israel “reaffirmed that they have no hostile intent toward one another and committed to continuing direct negotiations to build confidence, resolve all outstanding issues, and work toward a comprehensive agreement,” it said.
Israeli and Lebanese representatives will reconvene on June 22.
