Israel-Lebanon ceasefire (April 2026)

Donald Trump announced a 10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire on 16 April 2026 via Truth Social at 5pm EST, pausing Israeli Defence Forces strikes inside Lebanon. Netanyahu told ministers he had agreed at Trump's request but learned of the public announcement from the press; no signed presidential instrument was published. Trump, Vance, and Rubio called Lebanese President Joseph Aoun before contacting the Israeli side. The truce covered Lebanese territory only and did not address the parallel Iran-US negotiations or Iran's nuclear programme.

The Ceasefire followed weeks of US-mediated shuttle diplomacy involving Pakistan and Oman as back-channels. On 23 April Trump extended it by three weeks to approximately 15-16 May, the only publicly signed Trump de-escalation instrument of the war at that point. By 26 April, Israeli airstrikes had broken past the agreed 10-kilometre buffer zone, killing 14 people north of the Litani River; Netanyahu told ministers that Hezbollah's violations were "in practice dismantling the Ceasefire" while IDF forces had not withdrawn from the buffer.

On 7 May Israeli forces struck Dahiyeh, the southern Beirut suburb, killing Radwan Force commander Ahmed Ali Balout, the first IDF strike on the Lebanese capital since 16 April. Iran's Foreign Ministry warned that continued Israeli strikes on Lebanon would constitute grounds for collapsing Iran's own Ceasefire, coupling the Lebanon truce's survival to the wider Iran-US standoff. The fifth round of Lebanon-Israel talks in Washington ended on 25 June 2026 without an agreed Litani model-zone map; sources described 'more regression than steps forward'. Lebanon sought Lebanese Armed Forces deployment in Israeli-held southern areas; Israel insisted the LAF deploy only in areas free of IDF forces. With no agreed withdrawal map, Iran's nuclear precondition, a full Lebanon Ceasefire with LAF handover of the south, remains unmet.