Trump says Israeli and Lebanese leaders have agreed a 10-day ceasefire — BBC News

[0:00] Straight to breaking news. It is important breaking news because Donald Trump has just announced on Truth Social, and there it is on your screen, that as we've been reporting, he'd had a conversation with the president of Lebanon. [0:14] But the critical thing in this post, and you'll see it after the first sentence, that they have agreed a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, and it will begin at 5pm Eastern Standard Time. [0:28] So the two countries met for the first time in 34 years in Washington earlier in the week. Marco Rubio, of course, was overseeing that, and J.D. Vance, together with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, working with Israel and Lebanon to achieve a lasting peace. [0:46] And the post goes on to say, it's been my honour to solve nine wars across the world. This will be my tenth, and of course, that is hugely contested, all of that. [0:55] But the critical line is that the announcement there from Donald Trump announcing a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, it comes into effect at 5pm Eastern Standard Time. [1:08] They will formally begin a 10-day ceasefire, highly significant. There was that post overnight from Donald Trump suggesting that he wanted those two leaders to talk, Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanon's president. [1:23] That was knocked back by the president of Lebanon. And then in the intervening couple of hours, there has been movement with a phone call with Donald Trump getting directly involved. [1:35] So a 10-day ceasefire as a minimum. And that is hugely important because these are the live pictures from Lebanon on the ground. [1:47] And of course, it is quiet there at the moment. But over the last six weeks of this wider Middle East war, it has been the scene of intense bombardment with over 2,000 people being killed in huge strikes, [2:03] not just in Lebanon, but the south of Lebanon as well. Huge strikes we've seen right in the centre of the Lebanese capital, bringing down apartment blocks. [2:14] Israel continues to insist that they are targeting Hezbollah. But of course, there have been so many civilian casualties because this is a densely packed capital city. [2:27] And there have been huge military strikes within Beirut. So the civilian death toll has climbed and climbed and climbed. [2:36] And the world has become increasingly alarmed with calls from so many capitals for Israel to stop the bombardment, to agree a ceasefire with Lebanon. [2:49] And of course, part of the difficulty is that the ceasefire we're talking about is between Lebanon and Israel, but Hezbollah, the key component, [2:59] because the Israelis want to disarm Hezbollah. They've targeted Hezbollah. [3:06] But of course, the Lebanese government don't appear to have it in their capacity to carry it out, to disarm that militant group, an ally, of course, with Iran. [3:19] And that leaves the civilian population of Lebanon caught in the middle as that bombardment continues. [3:27] And I'll show you in a second some of the latest pictures, because in the south of the country, there was that attack earlier today by Israel on the last standing bridge. [3:38] And again, huge concern about that, because that is civilian infrastructure. [3:46] Israel, of course, always argues that Hezbollah are using these bridges to go back and forth. [3:52] But of course, huge amounts of concern, because it is against international law to target civilian infrastructure. [4:02] And, well, we'll come to, well, those are the pictures of the aftermath of that bridge that has been severed. [4:09] And some of the pictures there of the immediate hours. [4:14] And of course, we saw still pictures of the blast itself. [4:17] And it was a huge blast. [4:18] And it was one of the last remaining bridges which connects southern Lebanon to the rest of the country. [4:27] And, of course, there is the pictures I was referencing. [4:31] A huge blast there as Israel targets that bridge. [4:36] So those sorts of attacks have been continuing even on this, the day that this ceasefire announcement has been made. [4:44] And we have that confirmation and the news coming from Washington, from Donald Trump. [4:55] It's worth just putting that post from Donald Trump back onto the screen, because that is where the announcement of this development has come from. [5:03] And I'll just read it to you. [5:05] I just had excellent conversations with the president of Lebanon and the prime minister of Israel. [5:11] The two leaders have agreed that in order to achieve peace between their countries, they will formally begin a 10-day ceasefire at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. [5:22] And he referenced, the president referencing that meeting that took place with the ambassadors for both countries in Washington at the State Department on Tuesday. [5:32] And that was the first time that those direct conversations had been done in 34 years. [5:38] So he referenced that. [5:39] He referenced Marco Rubio overseeing those negotiations. [5:44] And he is clearly delighted that that has now led to a ceasefire itself. [5:51] We will talk in the next few minutes. [5:54] We'll get the latest from Jerusalem. [5:55] We'll get the latest from Beirut. [5:58] And we'll get the latest from Washington. [6:00] All of that coming up because a really significant development. [6:04] And it's worth just pausing here and just reminding that, of course, we've had that ceasefire after six weeks of war with Iran, the U.S. and Iran side of things. [6:17] And in those initial consultations, one remembers what Pakistan's prime minister posted in his initial post announcing that ceasefire. [6:26] He, of course, referenced a ceasefire in Lebanon as well. [6:30] And it was hoped that all of that was going to be done, what, 10 days ago at the same time. [6:35] A ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran and a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. [6:43] But that fell away very, very quickly with both Israel and then the U.S. very quickly saying that was not part of the agreement. [6:52] So there was certainly pushback from those two capitals. [6:56] And so there's been work over the last, what, 10 days to get this ceasefire in place for that part of the conflict. [7:06] Well, it does appear to finally have come. [7:09] And as I was saying just a few moments ago, there has been so many deaths in Lebanon as a result of the conflict, more than 2,000 civilian deaths there in Lebanon, [7:23] as Israel has continued to pound and pound over the last 10 days. [7:29] And we've seen them make more and more incursions further and further into Lebanon, invading that sovereign territory, the south of Lebanon. [7:40] And these are the pictures from earlier today with that bridge being targeted and destroyed. [7:46] And that's said to be the last bridge in the south, linking the south and the rest of the country. [7:53] So that really problematic and alarming on the ground there in Lebanon. [8:01] But, of course, a fragment of hope as this ceasefire is agreed. [8:07] And, of course, there's been so much pressure on Donald Trump to try for the president to use his influence over Benjamin Netanyahu to agree a ceasefire. [8:20] So it's, in a sense, gone in stages as the rest of the world has become increasingly alarmed by what Israel has been doing, [8:30] again and again demanding that they stop the bombardment in Lebanon. [8:34] And, finally, Donald Trump also coming and joining that effort and forcing the parties across the line [8:43] and principally forcing Benjamin Netanyahu to draw a halt to that bombardment. [8:50] Let's head to Washington, our correspondent there. [8:53] And, Simi, I know you've just joined us and you're getting up to speed with what the president has announced. [8:58] But it is a really significant development, this. [9:02] Yes, it is. [9:03] The president has just announced a 10-day ceasefire starting in about five hours between Israel and Lebanon. [9:11] He has previously said that he was, quote, trying to get a little breathing room between the two countries. [9:17] We know the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and the Lebanese ambassador to the U.S. [9:22] met here in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, which the president said was historic because it's been 34 years since the two countries have even spoken to each other. [9:33] There was also that tweet from the Lebanese president in which he thanked President Trump for efforts to reach a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel [9:42] and said that President Trump was working to secure lasting peace and stability. [9:48] He also said that he, too, wanted a ceasefire between the two countries at the earliest possible time. [9:55] This conflict between Israel and Lebanon proved a sort of second thorn in the flesh of President Trump during this war, [10:03] the first being Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. [10:08] So this clearly, from his Truth Social post, you can see that he's clearly proud of this development in this war, [10:16] which is the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, starting in about five hours. [10:21] So this is the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, starting in about five hours.