Israel Says Ceasefire Does Not Include Lebanon

Israel supports Donald Trump’s decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, but said the ceasefire does not include Lebanon, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday.

The office said Israel backed the US move, provided Tehran immediately opens the strait of Hormuz and stops attacks against the United States, Israel and countries in the region.

The Pakistani prime minister, Shebaz Sharif, had previously said the ceasefire extended over Lebanon.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the start of the war have killed more than 1,400 people, including 126 children, and displaced more than 1 million, according to Lebanese authorities. The renewed Israeli war on Lebanon was launched after Hezbollah – the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group – fired rockets into northern Israel in response to the killing of the former Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in joint US-Israeli airstrikes.

Israel also said it supports US efforts to ensure Iran no longer poses a nuclear, missile or “terror” threat to US, Israel and Iran’s Arab neighbours, adding that Washington had told Israel it was committed to achieving their shared goals in upcoming negotiations. Iran said on Wednesday negotiations with the US would begin on Friday 10 April in Islamabad.

SOURCE: THEGUARDIAN