US Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States on Friday to announce a framework agreement described as a first step toward peace after months of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
Officials did not share details of the agreement, which does not include Hezbollah and prompted one of the group’s officials in Lebanon to warn of civil war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said the framework would allow Lebanese forces to eventually seize control of the territory from the Israeli army.
The agreement was signed in front of Rubio in Washington, by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, and the Lebanese Ambassador to the United States, Nada Hamadeh.
Hamadeh said that the framework “is a first step on the path to restoring Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, securing a permanent and final cessation of hostilities, enabling our people to return to their land and allowing all Lebanese to live in peace, security and prosperity.”
Leiter said that the final destination of the framework is peace between the two countries.
“A true peace, where both countries live in security, and where the sovereignty of Israel and Lebanon will be respected, honored and protected,” Leiter said. “In this tripartite framework agreement based on performance, Iran left. Hezbollah left. The path to peace between Israel and Lebanon has begun.”
The latest conflict began when Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel days after Israel and the United States launched their war on Iran on February 28. Israel invaded Lebanon and expanded its control.
The talks between Israel and Lebanon were separate from the interim agreement signed last week by the leaders of the United States and Iran to end the fighting in the Islamic Republic. This agreement set a period of 60 days for negotiations on key issues, including the future of Tehran’s nuclear program, amid fears that Iran wants to use it for military purposes, which the country denies.
The Lebanese government was afraid that Iran would negotiate on its behalf, and Lebanon launched its direct negotiations with Israel after the outbreak of the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah was not part of the talks, leading to several ceasefire agreements that were not implemented on the ground.
Get daily national news
Get Canada Daily News delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss the day’s top stories.
On the other hand, Iran insisted that its agreement with the United States explicitly includes a ceasefire in Lebanon. The first cessation of fighting in Lebanon since March coincided with the start of US-Iranian talks in Switzerland.
Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, confirmed the group’s position on the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen Al Arabiya channel, that it rejects Lebanon’s direct negotiations with Israel and that it will not give up its weapons.
Fadlallah said that the Lebanese authorities “will not be able to implement the agreement signed in Washington unless they go, with American support, to the civil war.” He also described the agreement in Washington as “an attempt to obstruct the Islamabad process,” in reference to the US-Iranian negotiations.
In a statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun thanked the Trump administration and the Lebanese negotiating team, and said that Friday’s agreement would be a “first step” toward allowing the Lebanese displaced by the war to “return to their completely liberated land and to their homes” and live “with their heads held high, under the sovereignty of a Lebanese state that has no partner in its sovereignty over its land and its people.”
He did not share details of the agreement.
More than 4,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in Israeli raids since March. At least 37 Israeli soldiers were killed in Lebanon or northern Israel during the fighting.
A lull in the gunfire between Israeli and Hezbollah forces earlier this week began to emerge after Israel said it targeted Hezbollah fighters in several strikes in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese officials said that ensuring the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon was their top priority in the negotiations, while Israeli officials prioritized disarming the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Aoun told a visiting British parliamentary delegation on Wednesday that the proposal to establish “trial zones” where the Lebanese army is supposed to assume exclusive control of the area while Israeli forces will withdraw is “under discussion pending approval from the Israeli side.” He reiterated that the Israeli-Lebanese negotiations in Washington are separate from the outcomes of the Iranian-American talks in Switzerland.
An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Israel’s direct negotiations with Lebanon include discussions about redeploying Israeli forces after clearing southern Lebanon of Hezbollah infrastructure and disarming Hezbollah.
Hezbollah is unlikely to agree to any plan that includes disarmament throughout the country. The group stressed that it is only required under previous agreements and UN resolutions to disarm in the area south of the Litani River, near Lebanon’s border with Israel.
Netanyahu, the Israeli leader, said in a video on Friday that the framework was a “great achievement” for Israel.
He said: “The most important thing, first and foremost, is that Israel remains in the security zone in southern Lebanon.” “This is a major achievement, and we will maintain it as long as Hezbollah is not disarmed and as long as it continues to pose a threat to the State of Israel.”
Netanyahu also said that Israel is allowing the Lebanese army to begin preparing to take control of the territory.
“We are creating two experimental areas, both on the recommendation of the Israeli army,” he said. “The first is completely outside the security zone and south of the Litani River, and the second is north of the Litani.”
On Wednesday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told a visiting British parliamentary delegation that a proposal to create “trial zones” where the Lebanese army would supposedly assume exclusive control of the area while Israeli forces would withdraw “is under discussion pending approval from the Israeli side.”
Sewell reported from Beirut. Liedman reported from Tel Aviv. Associated Press writers Coral Said in Herzliya, Israel, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.
& Edition 2026 The Canadian Press
