U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 23rd local time that Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a three-week cease-fire.
Trump said on Truth Social after meeting Israeli and Lebanese envoys in the Oval Office that day that the talks were very successful. The Israel-Lebanon cease-fire had been set to end on the 26th.
The talks were the second in nine days after the ambassadors of Lebanon and Israel to the United States held their first high-level meeting in 33 years in Washington, D.C., on the 14th under U.S. mediation. U.S. senior officials including Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also took part.
Israel and Lebanon held their first high-level meeting and entered a 10-day cease-fire starting on the 16th. Hezbollah, a pro-Iran armed faction in Lebanon, did not join the cease-fire agreement but is known to have largely abided by its terms.
Trump also said that the United States will work with Lebanon so it can protect itself from Hezbollah and that he will invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the near future.
Bloomberg said Trump's remarks on extending the cease-fire are a step that creates room for a long-term agreement and removes obstacles that block an end to the war between the United States and Iran.