Israel and the Lebanese Shiite movement "Hezbollah" have agreed to a ceasefire that takes effect now, at 4:00 p.m. (Bulgarian) time, a senior US official told Reuters, quoted by BTA.
"Hezbollah" and Israel have reached a truce," he said, noting that negotiators from the United States and Qatar had facilitated the deal with help from Iran.
"According to our information, after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and "Hezbollah" are now in a truce," the official said.
The Lebanese lawmaker from Hezbollah's Hassan Fadlallah told Reuters that Iran had informed the movement that talks with the United States could not continue without a complete ceasefire. He called on the Lebanese government to reject any direct talks with Israel while Israeli attacks on Lebanon continued, and stressed that Washington had a responsibility to ensure that Israel stopped its attacks and fulfilled the terms of the agreement. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had earlier said that all of Lebanon should burn after four Israeli soldiers were killed in the neighboring country. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also said that they had carried out and would continue to carry out strikes on fighters and infrastructure of the pro-Iranian Lebanese movement Hezbollah in several areas of southern Lebanon overnight. The IDF added that the attacks were in response to repeated ceasefire violations by “Hezbollah“.
Israel will remain in Lebanon “as long as necessary”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today, quoted by Agence France-Presse.
He added that he would make the Islamist movement “Hezbollah” pay dearly after it became clear that four Israeli soldiers were killed during an operation.
The Israeli army “will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon as long as necessary to protect the cities in the northern part” of Israel, Netanyahu said in a statement. “Israel does not accept attacks on our soldiers or on our territory”, he added.
Defense Minister Israel Katz warned of an Israeli response “with significant force” of any attack by “Hezbollah” - a group allied with Iran.