US President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. He said that this ceasefire will come into effect from 5 pm ET on Tuesday.
“I just had a very nice conversation with my very respected President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel. These two leaders have agreed that in order to bring peace between their countries, they will formally begin a 10-day ceasefire beginning at 5 p.m. EST,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday.
Trump posted on social media
Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, “I just had a very wonderful conversation with the extremely respected President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, and the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu. These two leaders have agreed that in order to establish peace between their countries, they will formally begin a 10-day ‘ceasefire’ at 5 pm EST time. On Tuesday, for the first time in 34 years, representatives of these two countries Met with our great Secretary of State Marco Rubio here in Washington DC. I have instructed Vice President JD Vance, along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to work with Israel and Lebanon to resolve 9 wars around the world, and this will be my 10th attempt; President Donald J. Trump!
Aoun had refused to talk directly to Netanyahu
Earlier in the day, Aoun had refused to speak directly to Netanyahu. If this happens, this would be the first direct conversation between the leaders of the two countries in decades. Lebanese officials had told Israel and the US that they would not hold any further talks until a ceasefire was reached between Lebanon and Hezbollah.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli officials had said that talks were to be held between Netanyahu and Aoun. It came as Israel and Lebanon held direct talks in Washington, DC this week for the first time in more than four decades. Trump had also said in a social media post that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon would talk to each other. However, he did not give any information about where or how they would hold the talks.