Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the road to peace with Lebanon was long, “but we have begun,” as he defended his decision to accept a 10-day ceasefire with Hezbollah, framing it as a strategic opening for both diplomacy and continued military pressure.
However, the impression that this was a truce imposed upon Israel was reinforced by US President Donald Trump, who declared in a Truth Social post that Israel “will not be bombing Lebanon any longer.”
“They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the USA. Enough is enough,” he added in an unprecedented expression of US control over Israel’s actions.
Nevertheless, Netanyahu sought to give the truce a positive spin.
“One hand holds a weapon; the other is extended for peace,” Netanyahu said in a video statement, explaining that at the request of Trump, Israel was “giving an opportunity to advance a combined diplomatic and military solution with the Lebanese government.”
Still, Netanyahu made clear the campaign against Hezbollah was far from over. He argued that since October 7, 2023, Israel had removed the threat of infiltration and anti-tank fire from the group and eliminated roughly 90% of its rocket arsenal.
“I will say honestly, we have not yet finished the job,” he added, warning that further action was planned against remaining rocket and drone threats. Dismantling Hezbollah, he said, would require “sustained effort, patience, and careful navigation in the diplomatic arena.”
His remarks came as the fragile ceasefire, brokered by Washington after some six weeks of fighting, took effect overnight.
Despite the truce, Lebanese media on Friday evening reported one killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting a motorcycle between the southern towns of Kounine and Beit Yahoun. There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the incident.
Netanyahu stunned
Netanyahu was reportedly “stunned and alarmed” by Trump’s statement, learning of it from the media, a senior Israeli source told Axios, which noted that such pronouncements, implying that Israel had no choice but to obey, would have been under any other US administration.
Axios said that aides to Netanyahu, including Israel’s envoy in Washington, Yechiel Leiter, scrambled to understand the implications of Trump’s remarks, approaching the White House for clarification as they contradicted the terms of the agreement.
And a US official later clarified Trump’s remarks, telling The Times of Israel that the “ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel clearly states that Israel will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets but preserves its right to self-defense against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.”
Earlier in the day, Hezbollah signaled it remained on high alert hours after the ceasefire began, saying its fighters were keeping their “finger on the trigger” in the event of Israeli violations, citing fears of the “enemy’s treachery.”
Trump similarly cautioned Hezbollah against undermining the truce in a separate Truth Social post, saying, “I hope Hezbollah acts nicely and well during this important period of time… No more killing. Must finally have PEACE!”
Defense Minister Israel Katz stressed that the ceasefire was only a “temporary freeze,” emphasizing that forces would remain deployed inside Lebanon until Israel’s remaining missions in that country are completed, by force if necessary.
“The IDF holds and will continue to hold all the areas it has cleared and captured,” Katz said in a statement, adding that while significant achievements had been made — including the killing of more than 1,700 Hezbollah fighters and the clearing of a buffer zone along the border — key objectives remained unfinished.
“We are inside Lebanon in the midst of a war against Hezbollah, with a temporary freeze and a 10-day ceasefire,” he said, reiterating that dismantling Hezbollah’s weapons remained the central goal, through both military and diplomatic means.
Katz acknowledged that the new security zone in south Lebanon, which stretches up to the Litani River, still has enemy fighters and weapons in it, and said it will be cleared through a diplomatic arrangement or by returning to fighting.
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