Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a U.S.-backed ceasefire in fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, a deal meant to enable broader U.S.-Iran negotiations but one that may see Israeli forces maintain positions deep inside southern Lebanon.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement a “cessation of hostilities” on April 16 at 2100 GMT for an initial period of 10 days to enable peace negotiations between the 2 countries, in accordance with a text of the deal released by the State Department.
The deal says Lebanon’s government, with international support, would take “meaningful steps” to forestall Hezbollah and other groups from carrying out attacks against Israeli targets.
It also says that Israel and Lebanon recognize the country’s security forces “as having exclusive responsibility for Lebanon’s sovereignty and national defence”, a reference to a bid by the federal government since 2025 to disarm Hezbollah.
Under the agreement, “Israel shall preserve its right to take all crucial measures in self-defence, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.”
Beyond this, “Israel is not going to perform any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military, and other state targets, within the territory of Lebanon by land, air, and sea,” the deal says.
The ten-day period will be prolonged by mutual agreement as talks progress and depending on whether “Lebanon effectively demonstrates its ability to say its sovereignty”, it adds, in one other reference to Lebanon’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
What does the deal leave unaddressed?
The deal doesn’t require Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops have been destroying villages and infrastructure after ordering residents south of the Litani River to flee. The world makes up about eight per cent of Lebanese territory.
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Israeli defence officials say troops are holding positions so far as 10 km inside Lebanon as a part of a “buffer zone” to forestall Hezbollah attacks on Israel, viewing the world and lots of of its villages as strongholds for the Iran-backed group.
While the deal grants Israel the correct to take defensive measures against planned attacks, it doesn’t include similar terms for Lebanon.
That marks a contrast to a 2024 deal to halt Israel-Hezbollah fighting, which said: “(These) commitments don’t preclude either Israel or Lebanon from exercising their inherent right of self-defence, consistent with international law.”
Notably, the deal doesn’t explicitly require Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, even though it does spell out which six Lebanese state security forces are allowed to hold arms.
The disarmament of Hezbollah has been a key demand by Israel. The group rejects calls to disarm, viewing its weapons as a component of national defence against Israeli attacks.
The deal also doesn’t mention the fate of a whole lot of 1000’s of Lebanese who fled the world south of the Litani, a few of whom have already began returning home.
What has Hezbollah said concerning the deal?
Hezbollah halted fire at Israeli targets when the ceasefire got here into force but stopped wanting publicly endorsing the deal.
It said any ceasefire must not grant Israel “freedom of movement” inside Lebanon and that the continued presence of Israeli troops on Lebanese land granted people “the correct to withstand.”
How did the last Lebanon ceasefire deal end?
After a war sparked by Israel’s assault on Gaza, Israel and Lebanon agreed in November 2024 to an open-ended, U.S.-brokered truce that called on Lebanon’s government to disarm Hezbollah.
That deal also committed Lebanon to restricting arms to specific state forces, and further stipulated that it should confiscate unauthorised weapons and stop rearmament by non-state groups.
In June 2025, the U.S. proposed a roadmap to Lebanese officials to totally disarm Hezbollah in exchange for Israel halting its strikes and withdrawing its troops from five points they still occupy in southern Lebanon.
But Hezbollah and its predominant Shi’ite ally, the Amal Movement led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, have said the sequencing must be reversed, with Israel withdrawing and halting strikes before any talks on Hezbollah’s arms.
Following the 2024 deal, Israel continued to perform strikes on what it said were Hezbollah depots and fighters, in attacks that Medecins Sans Frontieres says killed 370 people in Lebanon.
What about other ceasefires involving Israel?
In Gaza, Israel and Hamas agreed last October to a U.S.-brokered deal to halt fighting and deliver aid into the territory. It was followed by a U.S. plan aimed toward disarming Hamas in exchange for Israeli troop withdrawals and reconstruction of Gaza, much of which was destroyed by Israeli bombardment.
Many points of that plan have thus far did not take shape.
Israel has continued attacks on Gaza, killing greater than 750 Palestinians for the reason that ceasefire. Israel says it goals to thwart attacks by Hamas and other militant factions, but rarely provides verifiable evidence.
Not less than 4 Israeli soldiers have been killed by Gaza militants since October.