Geneva (AFP) – Israel and Hezbollah agreed a ceasefire on Friday, a US official said, after deadly exchanges between the two sides in Lebanon put a deal to end the Middle East war under strain less than two days after it was signed.
Issued on: 19/06/2026 - 13:54Modified: 19/06/2026 - 15:49
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Talks that were scheduled for Friday between the US and Iran in Switzerland to take the deal to the next stage were postponed amid the fighting, with no new date announced.Tehran's top negotiator warned it would not bend on its red lines and that its finger was still "on the trigger", even as shipping appeared to pick up in the Strait of Hormuz, which had essentially been closed during the war.The deal signed this week by President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian aims to end a war that began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.The agreement was also meant to halt the fighting in Lebanon, which Iran has always insisted should be covered under any accord, turning Israel's ongoing campaign there into a source of frustration for Washington.Israel's military said Friday that it had struck more than 80 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and killed dozens of members of the Iran-backed group.Lebanon said 21 people were killed Friday in Israeli airstrikes in the south, while Israel's military reported four troops were killed, drawing furious reactions at home. But a US official told AFP a truce between Israel and Hezbollah, beginning immediately, had been brokered by US and Qatari mediators following talks with Israel and Iran. A Gulf diplomat confirmed the ceasefire.A previous truce agreed in April, however, did nothing to stop attacks by either side, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said just hours earlier that the Israeli army would stay in Lebanon "as long as necessary" and would make Iran-backed Hezbollah pay a "heavy price" for its attacks.
