Israel keeps striking Lebanon while Trump tells Netanyahu he's gone 'too far': who's right about the ceasefire?
Israeli jets struck areas of southern Lebanon on Wednesday — targeting what Israel says are Hezbollah positions — even as Trump publicly rebuked Prime Minister Netanyahu at the G7 summit, saying he needed 'to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon' and that Israel had been fighting 'too long' with 'too many people being killed.' The US-Iran deal was announced Sunday; Pakistan, one of the mediators, says it includes Lebanon, and leaked texts appear to require a full halt to hostilities. But Israel and the US ambassador insist the deal does not mandate an IDF withdrawal from areas of south Lebanon it currently controls, and that Hezbollah — which has vowed not to abide by any deal — is not party to it.
The summary above is a neutral framing. Below, each side reports the same story in its own words — judge for yourself.
Israel and American officials insist the US-Iran agreement signed Sunday does not mandate an IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon or require Israel to halt its campaign against Hezbollah. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee reiterated that Hezbollah is not included in the deal and that Secretary of State Rubio 'made clear' the nuclear and Lebanon issues are separate. Times of Israel reports that Israeli-Lebanese talks in Washington are said to be nearing a lasting ceasefire agreement — with Lebanon's armed forces already beginning to deploy — and that Israel sees the operation as targeting Hezbollah, a group that has itself vowed to defy any deal and which Israel describes as a terrorist organisation backed by Iran.
Speaking at the G7 summit in France, Trump made a rare public rebuke of his close ally Netanyahu, saying the Israeli PM 'needed to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon' and that fighting had gone on 'too long' with 'too many people being killed.' Trump said 'I didn't like that he did an attack — that was too much,' while still insisting on his personal loyalty: 'Without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel.' The leaked text of the US-Iran deal reportedly includes a full halt to hostilities in Lebanon, and Iran has insisted that Israel must cease its offensive under the terms of the agreement — putting Israeli strikes in direct tension with both the ceasefire framework and Trump's own public position.
