US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he hopes the Hezbollah group abides by a ceasefire brokered between Lebanon and Israel.
“I hope Hezbollah acts nicely and well during this important period of time. It will be (a) great moment for them if they do,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “No more killing. Must finally have peace!”
The US president said in a separate post issued roughly three hours later that Thursday “have been a historic day for Lebanon. Good things are happening!!!”
Trump announced the Israel-Lebanon truce earlier in the day after what he described as “excellent conversations” with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I just had excellent conversations with the highly respected President Joseph Aoun, of Lebanon, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel,” Trump said on Truth Social, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
“These two leaders have agreed that in order to achieve peace between their countries, they will formally begin a 10-day ceasefire at 5 P.M. EST,” he added, or midnight local time (2100GMT) in Tel Aviv and Beirut.
The announcement followed US-mediated talks between Lebanese and Israeli delegations that took place Tuesday at the State Department in Washington, DC.
The US and Israel began attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, prompting retaliation from Tehran against US allies in the Gulf, and from Hezbollah in Lebanon. In response, Israel began striking Hezbollah, killing over 2,000 people and displacing 1 million over the last six weeks.
The Iran war is also on a halt, and talks to end it permanently are underway.
