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Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is not going to converse with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for now, a Lebanese official instructed Fox Information Digital, dealing a setback to U.S. efforts to dealer direct contact between the 2 international locations as combating continues throughout southern Lebanon.
The event got here after President Donald Trump mentioned late Wednesday that the 2 leaders might converse for the primary time in many years.
“We are attempting to create somewhat respiratory room,” Trump wrote on Reality Social, including that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon had not spoken in some 34 years and saying, “It’ll occur tomorrow.”
However Lebanese officers rapidly pushed again. A senior Lebanese official instructed Fox Information Digital Thursday that no name between Aoun and Netanyahu is probably going earlier than a ceasefire is reached.
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Rescue staff seek for victims on the website of an Israeli airstrike that hit a crowded neighborhood south of Beirut, Lebanon, April 5, 2026. (Hussein Malla/AP Picture)
The official mentioned there may be mounting home strain on Lebanon’s authorities to not deepen contacts with Israel whereas combating continues, particularly as a result of many in Lebanon consider the federal government has already begun negotiations with out receiving something in return.
The shortage of a ceasefire or any tangible concession has made public opinion more and more necessary, he defined.
Three Lebanese officers instructed Reuters that Aoun has no plans to talk with Netanyahu within the close to future. Two of the officers mentioned Lebanon’s embassy in Washington conveyed that place to the Trump administration earlier than Aoun held a cellphone name Thursday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
In a quick assertion after the decision, Lebanon’s presidency mentioned Aoun thanked Rubio for U.S. efforts to safe a ceasefire.
Shortly afterward, Lebanon’s presidency mentioned Aoun additionally spoke by cellphone with Trump.
In keeping with the Lebanese presidency official X account, Aoun thanked Trump for his efforts to safe a ceasefire in Lebanon and obtain what it described as an enduring peace and stability that would pave the best way for a broader regional peace course of.
The presidency mentioned Aoun urged Trump to proceed these efforts to be able to cease the combating as rapidly as attainable.
Trump, based on the Lebanese readout, voiced assist for Aoun and Lebanon and mentioned he remained dedicated to securing a ceasefire as quickly as attainable.
Lower than an hour later, Trump introduced on Truth Social that he had individually spoken with each Aoun and Netanyahu and mentioned the 2 sides had agreed to formally start a 10-day ceasefire at 5 p.m. Jap Time Thursday.
“I simply had glorious conversations with the Extremely Revered President Joseph Aoun, of Lebanon, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel,” Trump wrote.
Trump mentioned he had directed Vice President JD Vance, Rubio and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers Gen. Dan “Razin'” Caine to work with each side to attain what he referred to as a “lasting peace.”
“It has been my Honor to resolve 9 Wars throughout the World, and this can be my tenth, so let’s, GET IT DONE!”, the president wrote.
The announcement appeared to mark a shift from earlier statements by Lebanese officers that Aoun wouldn’t converse instantly with Netanyahu earlier than a ceasefire was in place.
Lebanon has made clear it needs a ceasefire earlier than any direct negotiations with Israel.
“A ceasefire is the pure entry level for direct negotiations,” Aoun mentioned Thursday.
Lebanon has made clear it needs a ceasefire earlier than any direct negotiations with Israel.
“A ceasefire is the pure entry level for direct negotiations,” Aoun mentioned Thursday.
Aoun, who beforehand served as commander of Lebanon’s U.S.-backed armed forces earlier than changing into president in 2025, mentioned an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon could be a obligatory first step earlier than Lebanese troops might totally deploy to the border area.
The diplomatic dispute comes because the White Home presses for a broader deal to finish the regional struggle that erupted after Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group entered the battle March 2 in assist of Iran.
Hezbollah’s intervention opened a brand new entrance in Lebanon simply 15 months after the final main Israel–Hezbollah struggle.
Pakistan, which helped mediate the April 8 ceasefire between Israel and Iran, mentioned ending the combating in Lebanon is crucial to preserving that settlement.
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A broken constructing after an Israeli strike, following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli battle with Iran, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 6, 2026. Image taken with a cell phone. (Stringer/Reuters)
“Peace in Lebanon is crucial for peace talks,” Pakistani International Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi mentioned.
The Israeli safety cupboard met late Wednesday to debate a attainable ceasefire in Lebanon, based on Israeli media.
Israeli officers have signaled openness to negotiations, however they’re additionally insisting on persevering with army operations till Hezbollah is pushed away from the border.
Israeli Cupboard minister Gila Gamliel instructed Israeli media that Netanyahu had been anticipated to talk with Aoun “for the primary time after so a few years of no contact between the 2 international locations.”
Israel and Lebanon stay formally at struggle and have had no direct leader-to-leader contact in many years.
The newest U.S. diplomatic push follows a uncommon assembly Tuesday in Washington between Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad and Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter.
These talks, held on the State Division underneath U.S. mediation, marked the primary face-to-face discussions between senior Israeli and Lebanese officers in additional than three many years.
Nonetheless, the prospect of a direct name between Netanyahu and Aoun has run into robust opposition inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah, which has opposed any contact with Israel, stays publicly in opposition to negotiations.
On the similar time, Lebanon’s authorities has more and more distanced itself from Hezbollah for the reason that terror group entered the struggle.
The Lebanese authorities formally banned Hezbollah’s army actions March 2 and has spent the previous 12 months trying to disarm the Iranian-backed group with out triggering a broader civil battle.
In the meantime, fighting intensified Thursday in southern Lebanon.
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On this picture launched by the Lebanese Presidency press workplace, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, proper, meets U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Particular Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, third left, U.S. deputy particular presidential envoy to the Center East Morgan Ortagus, second left, and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa A. Johnson, left, on the presidential palace in Baabda, in east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency Press Workplace/AP)
Battles continued across the border city of Bint Jbeil, Lebanon, a longtime stronghold of Hezbollah — an Iran-backed terror group — that Israeli officers see as a key goal within the current offensive.
Netanyahu mentioned Wednesday that Israeli forces had been near “overcoming” Hezbollah in Bint Jbeil, Lebanon.
The Israeli army’s quick goal is to push Hezbollah farther from the border and stop anti-tank missiles and different direct-fire weapons from threatening northern Israeli communities, Israel Protection Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani mentioned in an interview with Fox Information Digital.
He mentioned Israeli troops are actually holding what the army calls “protection strains” a number of kilometers inside Lebanon, positions designed to maintain Hezbollah gunmen and anti-tank squads from as soon as once more overlooking Israeli cities.
“We’re going to ensure we preserve diminishing them,” Shoshani mentioned.
Lebanese safety officers additionally mentioned an Israeli airstrike destroyed the final remaining bridge over the Litani River main into southern Lebanon.
The strike successfully lower off practically a tenth of the nation from the remainder of Lebanon after earlier Israeli assaults destroyed different crossings.
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Smoke billows after reported strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli battle with Iran, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, March 6, 2026. (Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
Israel has vowed to show the realm south of the Litani River right into a “no-go zone” for Hezbollah.
Israeli army chief of employees Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir mentioned Wednesday that Hezbollah operatives would not be allowed to function south of the river.
The Litani River, which runs roughly 20 miles north of Israel’s border, has lengthy been seen by Israel as the road past which Hezbollah forces shouldn’t be allowed to function.
Hezbollah responded Thursday with fresh rocket fire into northern Israel.
Warning sirens sounded in a number of Israeli communities, sending residents into bomb shelters. There have been no quick reviews of accidents.
Greater than 2,100 folks have been killed in Lebanon since March 2 and greater than 1.2 million have been displaced, based on Lebanese authorities.
Israeli officers say Hezbollah assaults have killed two Israeli civilians and 13 Israeli troopers throughout the identical interval.
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Hezbollah members salute and lift the group’s yellow flags in the course of the funeral of their fallen comrades Ismail Baz and Mohamad Hussein Shohury, who had been killed in an Israeli strike on their autos, in Shehabiya in south Lebanon April 17, 2024. (AFP by way of Getty Photos)
Fox Information Digital reached out to the State Division, Lebanon’s embassy in Washington and the Israeli authorities for remark, however didn’t obtain responses in time for publication.
Reuters contributed to this report.
