Trump Says He Brokered Deal Between Israel and Hezbollah

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had spoken with Hezbollah through intermediaries and secured a pledge from the Iran-aligned Lebanese militia that it would stop attacking Israel.

Trump said he had also spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that Israel had agreed to pull back any troops preparing to attack southern Lebanon.

No US president has ever spoken with Hezbollah, with or without intermediaries. The group is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States.

“I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back”, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“Likewise, through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop.”

A Lebanese official told Reuters that Hezbollah had informed the US, through Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, that it was willing to halt attacks on northern Israel in exchange for Israel sparing Beirut and its suburbs from strikes.

If sustained, the arrangement could mark the first significant easing of tensions since the start of the most serious Israeli-Lebanese confrontation in months.

The fighting in Lebanon has been the broadest spillover of the Iran war. It has displaced more than 1.2 million Lebanese through Israeli strikes and evacuation orders since 2 March, when Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones into Israel in support of Iran.

In the latest advance, Israeli troops on Saturday seized the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle and a strategic ridge in southern Lebanon, the military said. That came a day after one of the heaviest days of Hezbollah fire toward northern Israel since the April ceasefire, prompting school closures and restrictions.

(reuters, max)