US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, effective from 5 PM EST (3:30 AM IST the following day).
He claimed that the ceasefire was agreed upon in a US-brokered meeting between Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun in Washington, hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
"On Tuesday, the two Countries met for the first time in 34 years here in Washington, D.C.," he wrote in a Truth Social post on Thursday, claiming that the Israel-Lebanon war would be the tenth conflict that he allegedly helped resolve.
However, Aoun's office clarified that he had spoken to Trump and Rubio separately, thanking them for their efforts in reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon, as per a CBC News report.
Trump also invited both leaders for further peace talks at the White House on a later date, calling it the "the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983".
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), however, will also continue to maintain its positions and areas in southern Lebanon—where it is currently deployed—during the course of the ceasefire, a Reuters report said, citing an Israeli security official.
In its first comment after the Thursday announcement, Hezbollah declared that any ceasefire must not allow Israel to freely move within Lebanon.
It also pointed out that the presence of Israeli troops on Lebanese territory granted Lebanon and its people the "right to resist", the report added.
Iran has also not yet issued a formal response to Trump's announcement of the 10-day ceasefire.
"The completion and consolidation of a comprehensive ceasefire in Lebanon will be the result of the steadfastness and struggle of the esteemed Hezbollah," said Iranian lawmaker M.B. Ghalibaf, a key figure in the peace talks with the US, many hours before Trump's ceasefire announcement.
Notably, an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire was one of the main conditions put forth by Iran in the Islamabad peace talks, which saw Tehran and Washington agree on a number of things, but fall out over the key points of contention: the Hormuz blockade, the bombing of Lebanon, and nuclear enrichment.
In that regard, the impact of the 10-day ceasefire on the US-Iran war will depend on whether Beirut and Tel Aviv actually cease hostilities, and whether the upcoming talks between Aoun and Netanyahu bear fruit.
Until then, it is expected that this development will be used by mediators Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey to push for a second round of talks between the US and Iran.