Trump says Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to dial back fighting

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to dial back fighting after he talked with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and communicated with the Lebanese militant group through mediators.

Trump announced the development in a social media post following a call with Netanyahu. Israeli forces recently made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than a quarter century. Trump said there would be no Israeli troops “going to Beirut” and that those on their way “have already been turned back.”

He said Hezbollah had “agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”

Netanyahu confirmed the conversation but cast it less as restraint and more as a warning, saying he told Trump that Israel would strike targets in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, if Hezbollah’s attacks do not stop. The Israeli military will continue “to operate as planned” in southern Lebanon, Netanyahu added.

There was no immediate word from Hezbollah.

The two sides have been under a ceasefire since mid-April, but Hezbollah resumed attacks after Israeli strikes in Lebanon that Israel characterized as self-defense. The fighting also presents a major obstacle in the emerging deal to extend the ceasefire in the Iran war. Tehran wants any agreement to include Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities secured Hezbollah’s approval of a proposal by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Israel would not strike Beirut’s southern suburbs, and Hezbollah would not attack northern Israel, according to a statement issued by the Lebanese Embassy to the U.S.

Moments after Trump’s message, Israel detected missile launches from Lebanon and warned Israelis in part of northern Israel to take cover.

Talks between Israel and Lebanon are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, where Lebanese negotiators hope to widen the scope of areas that will not be attacked in the country as they seek a complete ceasefire.

Israel orders strikes on Beirut suburbs

Trump’s comments emerged after Israel’s government ordered strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and as Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, including the outskirts of the coastal city of Haifa.

A joint statement by Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the orders followed what they called repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah and “attacks against our cities and citizens.”

The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesman later posted on X that residents should leave the suburbs, adding that if Hezbollah continues attacking Israeli communities, Israel will launch attacks on the Beirut area of Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah enjoys wide support.

After Monday’s warning, large numbers of people were seen fleeing Dahiyeh, jamming roads leading out of the area.

Mohammed Farhat, 23, fled with his brother and parents from Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik and was heading with his mother on a motorcycle to stay with relatives in another neighborhood.

“We are worried. I am used to it but left for my parents,” the university student said.

Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire overnight

Israeli airstrikes overnight on southern Lebanon left six people dead, including a Syrian citizen in a village near the city of Nabatiyeh, the state-run National News Agency said. Israel struck other towns and villages near the major city, close to the strategic Beaufort Castle and other towns the Israeli military captured in recent days.

An airstrike Monday afternoon in the port city of Tyre caused heavy damage to the Jabal Amel Hospital, the Health Ministry said. A video released by the ministry showed shaken women and children inside the hospital, where windows were blown out.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, said its air force had intercepted two projectiles launched from Lebanon toward Israeli territory, as well as a suspicious aerial target in the area where Israeli soldiers operate in southern Lebanon. No injuries were reported, the military said.

Hezbollah said early Monday that it attacked Israeli troops in Zawtar al-Sharqieh, just north of the Litani River, and struck what they said was Israeli military infrastructure in Tiberius, a few dozen miles south of the border.

Israel and Lebanon set to hold talks in Washington

The latest attacks happened just before the next round of direct Israel-Lebanon talks in the U.S. capital. Hezbollah has rejected direct talks, counting on pressure from Iran, which has demanded an end to the war in Lebanon in its talks with the United States.

The Israel-Lebanon talks that began in April in Washington were the first in more than three decades between the countries, which have no formal diplomatic relations.

Beirut is still committed to holding talks to end the conflict despite the boiling tensions, said a Lebanese diplomatic official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi asserted Monday that any ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran is a “ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon.”

“Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts,” Iran’s top diplomat said in a post on X.

The Lebanese capital has been mostly spared since the ceasefire

Beirut has been mostly spared from airstrikes since the ceasefire went into effect, apart from two targeted attacks on the city’s southern suburbs in May.

Saudi Arabia condemned Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, saying it “categorically rejects” Israel’s movement into the small Mediterranean nation. The Saudi Foreign Ministry called on the international community to prevent Israel from going deeper into Lebanon.

Lebanese parliament chief Nabih Berri, a key Hezbollah ally, said in a statement Sunday that he could guarantee the militant group’s “full, comprehensive and immediate commitment to a ceasefire.” Berri added: “But who will force Israel to stop its aggression?”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that his government continues work to end “the suffering of the Lebanese in general and the southerners in particular.” Later, he issued a statement reiterating Beirut’s commitment to negotiations, saying they are “safer” than war.”

At the United Nations, Assistant Secretary-General Martha Pobee told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that Israel’s push into Lebanon violates Lebanon’s territorial integrity and the 2006 council resolution requiring Israel to withdraw to south of the U.N.-drawn border with Lebanon.

She also accused Hezbollah of violating the resolution that requires the militant group to disarm.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz said a deescalation and peace will come quickly “if Hezbollah immediately ceases its attacks, as apparently it’s promised, and the government of Lebanon asserts its fully sovereignty, rebuilds, and brings its people home.”

Lebanon’s U.N. Ambassador Ahmad Arafa commended the Trump administration for “constructive efforts aimed at giving diplomacy a chance” and Trump’s latest push.

The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,433 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million people.

Israel’s military said a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon overnight in a drone attack by Hezbollah. Hezbollah’s use of hard-to-detect fiber-optic drones has been deadly for the Israeli military, which is struggling to respond.

According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 26 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.

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Mroue and Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Aamer Madhani, Bassem Mroue, Kareem Chehayeb And Natalie Melzer, The Associated Press