Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli military’s operations in southern Lebanon would continue unabated, seemingly contradicting President Donald Trump’s claim that a ceasefire was now in place.On Monday, Trump announced on Truth Social that he had conversations with both Netanyahu and Hezbollah through intermediaries and that both had pledged not to attack the other if their opponent didn’t. Despite this, Netanyahu appeared to contradict him just two hours later, announcing in a post on X that Israeli military operations would continue as planned, citing attacks from Hezbollah as the reason.“Tonight, I spoke with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens—Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut,” he said. “This stance of ours remains unchanged. In parallel, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon.”
Despite appearing to go against Trump’s wishes and dashing hopes for a ceasefire, Netanyahu’s statement featured rhetoric that didn’t directly contradict the president’s announcement; he phrased Israel’s continued operations as being in response to Hezbollah’s attacks, implying the terrorist group wasn’t holding up its part of the bargain.
