Trump meets with Lebanon president on Hezbollah– www.washingtonexaminer.com News Source
EXCERPT:
President Donald Trump is meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun for the first time on Tuesday, as the two leaders discuss a Lebanese proposal to target Hezbollah terrorists that control swaths of the Middle Eastern country.
The pair are holding talks around 11 a.m. ET at the White House in Washington, D.C, Tuesday, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Aoun on Sunday. The meeting comes after Israel, which borders Lebanon, invaded the country to target Hezbollah terrorists. The Trump administration has been involved in talks to negotiate Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon had asked to be annexed by Israel, in order to be protected from Hezbollah militants.
Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran‘s supreme leader in joint US-Israeli strikes.
Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, where its troops now occupy swathes of territory near the border.
Talks between Israel and Lebanon include discussion of a US-backed proposal for Israeli forces to hand over some of the territory they have invaded during the war with Hezbollah to the Lebanese military, according to Israeli and Lebanese officials.
The Israeli officials said the Lebanese troops involved would undergo US training and vetting to ensure they are not linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah, while Israel would maintain a military presence in a buffer zone along the border.
The proposed “pilot” project is being discussed in the latest round of talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials, which got underway in Washington on Tuesday.
BEIRUT: Direct damage to buildings in south Lebanon in the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah is estimated at around US$1.38 billion, a UN agency and a Lebanese research centre said Monday (Jun 22).
“In total, 11,095 buildings were completely destroyed, impacting 17,891 housing units, while 2,242 buildings sustained partial damage … and 9,311 buildings incurred minor damage,” the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Lebanon’s government-linked National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) said.
It cited a “rapid building-level damage assessment” in the country’s south which compared satellite imagery from late April, nearly two months into the latest war, with those from October 2025, meaning it does not cover the latest weeks of the conflict.
As Trump obfuscates over Iran concessions in his new ‘peace deal’ major tension grows between Israel and Washington over the inclusion of Lebanon – as it is seen as protecting Hezbollah
A police officer inspects buildings damaged in Israeli strikes in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon(Image: AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Israel has continued to hammer Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon in defiance of a ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran. At least one person has died in the attacks despite Lebanon being included in the ‘memorandum of understanding’ on the Iran war. US President Donald Trump’s controversial MOU concedes the inclusion of Lebanon, effectively limiting Israel’s ability to attack Iran’s proxy extension Hezbollah. It has infuriated many Israelis who see the MOU as severely restricting their ability to protect themselves from Hezbollah by attacking it.
President Donald Trump wants to get an agreement signed with Iran, regardless of the strikes between Iran and Israel over the weekend.
Iran fired strikes at Israel over the weekend, and Israel Defense Forces later announced that “the Israeli Air Force struck military targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran a short while ago.”
The Israeli Air Force struck military targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran a short while ago.
The Israeli ambassador to the United States is slamming Hezbollah’s rejection of a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon, saying they are “trying to destroy that hope.”
“There was real hope at the negotiating table for a new chapter of security and peace,” Ambassador Yechiel Leiter wrote on X. “Hezbollah and Iran are trying to destroy that hope. They must not succeed.”
Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based, Iran-backed militant group, was not involved in the negotiations taking part in Washington over the last several days, though it is the one striking Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
“Israel will defend its citizens,” Leiter wrote. “Lebanon deserves a future shaped by its government-not by an Iranian-backed terrorist organization.”
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a renewed ceasefire after US-mediated talks in Washington
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a renewed ceasefire that requires Hezbollah to stop firing and withdraw its operatives from southern Lebanon, according to a joint statement released after US-mediated talks at the State Department on Wednesday.
The talks followed weeks of Israeli strikes and ground operations in Lebanon, as well as Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel. Washington has said previous ceasefire efforts were undermined by Hezbollah attacks carried out without the approval of the Lebanese government.
He also insisted that for the war in Lebanon to end, Israeli forces must get out of the country.
“The end of the war in Lebanon also means the end of the occupation. That is, the end of the war must be accompanied by the withdrawal of the Zionist regime’s forces from the areas they have occupied,” he told the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese broadcaster.
His comments came as Israeli and Lebanese diplomats were to hold a second day of direct talks in Washington.
They are part of a fourth round of talks since the fighting in Lebanon erupted when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.
The agreement between Israel and Lebanon, reached after a fourth round of US-mediated talks in Washington, is contingent on the “evacuation of all [Hezbollah] operatives” from an area between the Israeli border and the Litani river, about 30km (19 miles) to the north, which is currently occupied by Israeli ground forces.
The United Nations has issued an urgent plea for calm and respect for the agreed ceasefire after Israel pushed its offensive into Lebanon, a move that puts fragile US-Iran peace talks on the brink of collapse.
“We are deeply alarmed by the escalation in military activities across southern Lebanon and beyond,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said. “We urge all actors to respect the cessation of hostilities and avoid further escalation.”
The UN call came amid Israeli government ordered strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday, a day after its ground forces reached their furthest point in Lebanon in 26 years and as Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, including the outskirts of the coastal city of Haifa.
An Israeli flag is seen flying over the historic Beaufort Castle (Shaqif Arnun) as Israeli forces occupied the strategic hilltop site of Beaufort Castle (Shaqif Arnun), despite an existing ceasefire at the north of Litani River in Nabatieh, Lebanon.
Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israeli troops pushed further into Lebanon despite a ceasefire.
France called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
More than 3 370 Lebanese and 28 Israelis have been killed.
Middle East crisis live: Conflict continues in Lebanon despite Trump hailing Israeli-Hezbollah de-escalation | Lebanon– www.theguardian.com News Source EXCERPT:
Summary: Conflict in Lebanon continues despite Trump hailing Israeli-Hezbollah de-escalation
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Donald Trump has hailed an agreement to de-escalate the fighting in Lebanon, which has killed thousands of people and inflamed tensions in the broader US-Israeli war with Iran.
Trump said Hezbollah, through intermediaries, had pledged not to attack Israel, while Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to pull back any troops preparing to attack Beirut.
“Let’s see how long that lasts – Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
According to Lebanon’s embassy in Washington, the agreement would not end the conflict in that country. But it calls for Israel to refrain from strikes on Beirut and its suburbs controlled by Hezbollah, while the Iran-aligned group would halt its attacks on Israel.
Traffic on a Beirut highway on Monday as residents flee after an Israeli threat to strike the southern suburbs. Photograph: Bilal Hussein/AP
Despite the agreement, hostilities in southern Lebanon – which Israel invaded in March – appeared to continue. This morning, the Israeli military said that it intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel, and that no injuries were reported.
After Trump’s announcement, Netanyahu said Israel would continue military operations in southern Lebanon, where ground forces are pushing toward the Zahrani River, their deepest incursion in Lebanon in 25 years. His statement made no mention of a new ceasefire.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the group would support a full ceasefire across all Lebanon as a precursor to the withdrawal of Israeli troops. He did not say whether the group would stop its strikes on Israeli territory.
Lebanon said it would seek to expand the ceasefire in talks with Israel in Washington tomorrow. That could clear the path for renewed efforts to end the three-month-old war that began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran. The process has been stuck in limbo for weeks under a fragile ceasefire as negotiators have been unable to agree on an initial framework for peace talks.
In other developments:
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) threatened to open “new fronts” and keep the strait of Hormuz closed over Israel’s offensive in Lebanon, state media reported. “Iran considers crossing the red lines in Lebanon and Gaza to mean direct war,” state TV quoted the IRGC’ intelligence organisation as saying.
The ceasefire already in place between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon, Iran’s top diplomat said yesterday after Netanyahu ordered attacks on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut. “Violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio will face questions at Congress today for the first time since the Iran war began. He will testify before House and Senate committees on the state department’s 2027 budget request, where he is expected to face questions about Trump’s war efforts and shifting diplomatic goals.
Oil prices jumped and equities slid as Middle East peace talks stumbled and tensions mounted between Iran and the US. Crude futures shot more than 5% higher yesterday as an Iranian news agency announced Tehran had suspended the negotiations with the US via mediators, AFP reported.
US forces intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces based in Kuwait late on Sunday, the US military said yesterday. No American personnel were harmed, it added.
Key events
Israel’s weapons exports has reached an all-time high for a fifth year running, according to the country’s defence ministry.
In a statement, it said: “Israel’s all-time defence export record has been broken for the fifth consecutive year, with $19.2bn in 2025 – a nearly 30% surge compared to the previous year, more than doubling in five years and quadrupling in a decade.”
Israeli defence minister says US backs striking Beirut suburbs if Hezbollah attacks northern Israel
The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said the US has backed plans to strike Beirut’s southern suburbs if Hezbollah attacks northern Israel.
The remarks came after Israel appeared to pull back from immediate threats of attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, following an intervention by US president Donald Trump.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits soldiers along Israel’s northern border on Saturday, accompanied by Israeli defence minister Israel Katz. Photograph: Israeli Prime Minister Office/APAImages/Shutterstock
Prime minister Netanyahu and I, together with the IDF, led a move aimed at establishing a new equation: Beirut’s Dahiyeh district will be treated the same as Israel’s northern communities. If Israeli towns continue to come under attack, we will evacuate and strike Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, Hezbollah’s main stronghold.
He added:
The United States endorsed this principle and conveyed it to the Lebanese government and all relevant parties. The test of this policy will become clear in the coming days: either the attacks on Israeli communities stop, or if they continue and we strike Dahiyeh, the equation will have been enforced.
Katz also acknowledged that the IDF has issued warnings for people to flee their homes, saying it has led to “the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents – 600,000 out of 950,000 by last night”.
Here are the latest images from the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, where the Jabal Amel hospital sustained severe damage from yesterday’s bombing on nearby buildings.
A medical worker looks at the damage in Jabal Amel hospital a day after an Israeli airstrike that targeted buildings in front of the hospital in Tyre, Lebanon. Photograph: Wael Hamzeh/EPAA destroyed building that was hit Monday in an Israeli airstrike is seen through a shattered window of the hospital. Photograph: Mohammed Zaatari/APAn ambulance near a car park outside the hospital. Photograph: Aziz Taher/ReutersA man looks through the shattered windows of the damaged hospital. Photograph: Mohammed Zaatari/AP
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has once again issued a warning telling people in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh to flee their homes and move north ahead of strikes.
It is the third such warning in a week for one of southern Lebanon’s largest cities, home to tens of thousands of people, which has seen continued Israeli strikes in recent weeks despite a ceasefire.
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon, following Israeli strikes on Sunday, as seen from Nabatieh. Photograph: Reuters
Patrick Wintour
The UK government has let the Palestinian people down and failed to make it economically impossible for Israel to continue to act with impunity in the West Bank and Gaza, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Emily Thornberry, has said.
She accused her own government of lacking ambition and wringing its hands on the Palestinian crisis, and she also chastised Donald Trump for declaring a ceasefire in Gaza and then walking away, leaving Gazans to live in rubble.
Thornberry has never been this critical of the government’s Middle East policy before and her remarks may find resonance in a potential Labour leadership contest that has so far included little mention of foreign policy.
She said the significant decision taken more than eight months ago to recognise Palestine as a state should have been only the first step of many but nothing further had been done since to help bring about a two-state solution.
Read more:
Netanyahu: ‘Iran has paid a very heavy price and is destined to fall’
In a message to David Barnea, the outgoing director of the Mossad (Israel’s national intelligence agency), Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran has paid a “very heavy” price and is “destined to fall”.
He wrote on X:
Yesterday we bid farewell to the outgoing head of the Mossad, Dedi Barnea.
The price Iran has already paid is a very heavy one. The foundations of this regime of terror in Iran have been shaken. It will never be what it once was, and I tell you – it is destined to fall.
On my own behalf, and on behalf of the entire nation, I have come to say to Dedi – thank you. Thank you for 30 years of dedicated service to the Mossad, and a special thank you for the last few years, which have yielded outstanding successes and achievements for the benefit of Israel’s security.
The Lebanese armed forces said two soldiers were injured “as a result of being targeted by a hostile Israeli drone” on a road between the towns of Habbouch and Deir ez-Zahrani in southern Lebanon.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) has reported at least eight deaths this morning from Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon.
That is despite Donald Trump announcing an agreement to halt attacks that neither Israel or Hezbollah have publicly accepted.
Israeli attacks were reported in the southern Lebanese towns of Jibchit, Toul and Kfar Sir just north of the Litani River, according to NNA. Other areas in the Nabatieh region were also targeted, NNA reported.
An Israeli airstrike on Tyre yesterday killed at least four people and severely damaged the city’s Jabal Amel hospital, according to NNA.
People gather at the site of an Israeli strike that hit near a hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Monday. Photograph: Kawnat Haju/AFP/Getty Images
The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, has condemned Israel’s occupation of parts of Lebanon after Israeli troops seized the Beaufort, a Crusades-era castle south of the country.
An Israeli flag and a Golani Brigade flag fluttering atop the medieval Beaufort Castle in Arnoun, Lebanon. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
“Nothing can justify the continuation of military operations and Israel’s prolonged occupation deep inside Lebanese territory,” he told France TV.
“That is why we have, of course, called for a ceasefire: that Hezbollah cease attacking Israel, that Israel cease attacking Lebanon, and that this dialogue, which has begun for the first time in so long between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, can continue.”
A fourth round of US-hosted direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon is scheduled to begin today.
Summary: Conflict in Lebanon continues despite Trump hailing Israeli-Hezbollah de-escalation
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Donald Trump has hailed an agreement to de-escalate the fighting in Lebanon, which has killed thousands of people and inflamed tensions in the broader US-Israeli war with Iran.
Trump said Hezbollah, through intermediaries, had pledged not to attack Israel, while Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to pull back any troops preparing to attack Beirut.
“Let’s see how long that lasts – Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
According to Lebanon’s embassy in Washington, the agreement would not end the conflict in that country. But it calls for Israel to refrain from strikes on Beirut and its suburbs controlled by Hezbollah, while the Iran-aligned group would halt its attacks on Israel.
Traffic on a Beirut highway on Monday as residents flee after an Israeli threat to strike the southern suburbs. Photograph: Bilal Hussein/AP
Despite the agreement, hostilities in southern Lebanon – which Israel invaded in March – appeared to continue. This morning, the Israeli military said that it intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel, and that no injuries were reported.
After Trump’s announcement, Netanyahu said Israel would continue military operations in southern Lebanon, where ground forces are pushing toward the Zahrani River, their deepest incursion in Lebanon in 25 years. His statement made no mention of a new ceasefire.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the group would support a full ceasefire across all Lebanon as a precursor to the withdrawal of Israeli troops. He did not say whether the group would stop its strikes on Israeli territory.
Lebanon said it would seek to expand the ceasefire in talks with Israel in Washington tomorrow. That could clear the path for renewed efforts to end the three-month-old war that began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran. The process has been stuck in limbo for weeks under a fragile ceasefire as negotiators have been unable to agree on an initial framework for peace talks.
In other developments:
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) threatened to open “new fronts” and keep the strait of Hormuz closed over Israel’s offensive in Lebanon, state media reported. “Iran considers crossing the red lines in Lebanon and Gaza to mean direct war,” state TV quoted the IRGC’ intelligence organisation as saying.
The ceasefire already in place between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon, Iran’s top diplomat said yesterday after Netanyahu ordered attacks on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut. “Violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio will face questions at Congress today for the first time since the Iran war began. He will testify before House and Senate committees on the state department’s 2027 budget request, where he is expected to face questions about Trump’s war efforts and shifting diplomatic goals.
Oil prices jumped and equities slid as Middle East peace talks stumbled and tensions mounted between Iran and the US. Crude futures shot more than 5% higher yesterday as an Iranian news agency announced Tehran had suspended the negotiations with the US via mediators, AFP reported.
US forces intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces based in Kuwait late on Sunday, the US military said yesterday. No American personnel were harmed, it added.
Lebanon and Israel are set to hold a second day of direct talks on Friday in Washington following a round of discussions on Thursday, which a US State Department official described as “productive and positive”.
“We look forward to continuing this tomorrow [Friday] and hope to have more to share then,” the official added.
The third round of negotiations comes just days before the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is due to expire. Lebanese officials hope the two-day negotiations will lead to a renewed ceasefire.
They also hope to tackle key sticking points, such as the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah.
Israel’s military has killed six people in an air raid on a house in southern Lebanon, the latest violation of a United States-brokered truce that has only ever existed on paper.
The Israeli attack on Monday night targeted a house in the Kfar Dounin municipality, some 100km (60 miles) south of Beirut, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said.
Two health workers were among 51 people killed in the latest wave of IDF strikes on the country, Beirut has said
The Lebanese Health Ministry has accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of deliberately targeting medics during airstrikes on the country.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon continue to intensify despite a US-brokered ceasefire between the sides, which took effect in mid-April.
The latest wave of IDF strikes on Lebanon left 51 people dead, including two medics, the country’s health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
“The Israeli enemy continues to violate international laws and humanitarian norms, adding more crimes against paramedics, as it directly targeted two points of the Health Authority in Qalawiya and Tibnin, Bint Jbeil district, in two raids,” the statement read.
A French soldier serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping contingent was killed in a strike in southern Lebanon, French President Emmanuel Macron said.
“Staff Sergeant Florian Montorio of the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment from Montauban was killed this morning in southern Lebanon during an attack on the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission,” he wrote on the X social network, expressing condolences to relatives of the deceased.
Three more soldiers were wounded and evacuated, Macron added. “Everything indicates that responsibility for the attack lies with [the Shiite organization] Hezbollah,” he said, therefore demanding that the Arab Republic’s authorities “arrest those responsible” and “assume responsibility” for maintaining order, along with UNIFIL.