WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump announced a three-week extension of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon shortly after presiding over the second round of ambassador-level talks between the two countries at the White House.

In a Truth Social post published immediately after the meeting ended, Trump said he also planned to host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House “in the near future.”

“The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump wrote, adding that the White House meeting went “very well.”

Shortly after publishing the post, Trump invited reporters into the Oval Office, where participants in the talks offered brief remarks thanking the president for organizing them.

Trump then took questions from reporters, claiming that any deal the US signs with Iran must include a provision barring Tehran from continuing to fund Hezbollah. He also clarified the ceasefire does not bar Israel from launching strikes in self-defense and called for Lebanese legislation outlawing contact with Israelis to be scrapped, though he acknowledged having never heard of the law before.

Earlier this month, Trump coaxed Israel into agreeing to an initial 10-day ceasefire against Hezbollah, which was set to expire at midnight Monday-Tuesday. Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the US-Israeli war against Iran after it began targeting the Jewish state on March 2.

After the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire on April 7, Tehran insisted that it cover Lebanon as well and continued blocking ships in the Strait of Hormuz as Israel kept up strikes against Hezbollah.

Apparently concerned the continued tensions in Lebanon would harm the truce between the US and Iran, Washington began pressuring Israel to curb its strikes on Hezbollah.

But to avoid legitimizing Iran’s influence over developments in Lebanon, the US sought to secure the truce through a separate channel — direct talks between Jerusalem and Beirut, which had not happened in decades.

Given the anti-Hezbollah stance of the current government in Beirut, the Trump administration saw a unique opportunity for a peace deal.

However, the Iran-backed terror group still holds significant sway in Lebanon, where roughly one-third of the population is Shiite. Previous attempts by the government to disarm Hezbollah have proven wildly unsuccessful as it continued to fire repeatedly at northern Israel.

Accordingly, it is not clear whether an agreement between Israel and Lebanon in Washington will be able to have practical ramifications on the ground.

Moreover, Beirut’s priorities in the talks with Israel appear to........

© The Times of Israel