Israel and Lebanon have signed a framework agreement in Washington after days of negotiations brokered by the US.
The deal, details of which remain unclear, is something of a victory for the Trump administration, which is itself embroiled in complex negotiations with Iran following the extension of a ceasefire between the two.
Iran – Hezbollah’s primary foreign backer – has repeatedly called for Lebanon to form part of any negotiations with the US.
The agreement “begins to put in place a framework for lasting peace and security,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday. “That’s what these two nations deserve,” he said, calling it a “first step”.
Previous ceasefires between Israel and Hezbollah have still seen near-daily cross-border strikes, with both sides accusing each other of violating the agreement.
Washington has feared that continuing tensions between Israel and Lebanon could undermine the US peace deal with Iran, which holds a commitment to end fighting on “all fronts”, including Lebanon.
Over the course of several months, repeated Israeli strikes on targets in southern Lebanon threatened to derail efforts to settle the conflict in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump on one occasion held a terse phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he reportedly uttered an expletive. He also publicly criticized Netanyahu and Israeli conduct in the conflict on several occasions.
The Israel-Lebanon deal, however, could be tenuous. Hezbollah is not a party to Friday’s agreement, and it is unclear whether it will agree to withdraw its fighters from the South Litani area in southern Lebanon.
While Trump has insisted that Israel has a right to defend itself from Hezbollah rocket strikes on its territories, he has also claimed he can “control Israel from attacking Lebanon.”
“They have a lot of respect for me,” Trump told Axios in an interview last week. “They do as I say.”
Lebanon was drawn into the war between the US and Israel and Iran on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader. Israel responded with an air campaign across Lebanon and a ground invasion in the south.
A US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on 16 April failed to stop the fighting.
Israel and Lebanon also agreed in June to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon in which Hezbollah operatives would be banned. But fighting has since continued.
