truce in Lebanon<\/a> could clear one major obstacle to a deal between Iran, the United States and Israel to end weeks of devastating war. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.<\/p>\nTrump said in another post that Israel is \u201cprohibited\u201d by the US from further strikes on Lebanon and that \u201cenough is enough\u201d in the Israel-Hezbollah war. The White House did not immediately respond to a question about whether the prohibition spans both offensive and defensive strikes.<\/p>\n
Shortly before Trump’s post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon \u201cat the request of my friend President Trump\u201d, but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.<\/p>\n
He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90% of Hezbollah\u2019s missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces \u201chave not finished yet\u201d with the dismantling of the group.<\/p>\n
Celebrations in Beirut<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/people-chant-slogans-while-holding-hezbollah-flags-in-dahiye-JRRG2ZHKLJFDDONOOPZXBS2VGY.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
People chant slogans while holding Hezbollah flags in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
In Beirut, celebratory gunshots rang out at the start of the truce. Displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.<\/p>\n
The Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon had reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.<\/p>\n
An Israeli strike in the area of Kounine hit a car and a motorcycle, killing one person and wounding three, including a Syrian citizen, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Friday. It was the first airstrike and first fatality reported since the truce took effect.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate response from the Israeli army or Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
According to the agreement shared by the State Department, Israel can act in self-defence against imminent attacks but cannot carry out offensive operations against southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Trump heralded the deal as a \u201chistoric day for Lebanon\u201d and expressed confidence that the war with Iran would soon end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will say the war in Iran is going along swimmingly,\u201d Trump said in Las Vegas. \u201cIt should be ending pretty soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
An end to Israel\u2019s war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking the current ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel said that the deal did not cover Lebanon.<\/p>\n
The fighting has killed at least 3000 people in Iran, more than 2290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have also been killed.<\/p>\n
Israel says it will keep troops in Lebanon<\/p>\n
![\"Israeli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/israeli-soldiers-drive-towards-southern-lebanon-from-norther-OC2PF6GOKFFIJJ2ODGWP5RZOLU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Israeli soldiers drive towards southern Lebanon from northern Israel, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Israeli forces have engaged in fierce battles with Hezbollah as they pushed into southern Lebanon to create what officials have called a \u201csecurity zone\u201d.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s hard-line Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would continue to hold all the places it is currently stationed, including a buffer zone extending 10 kilometres from the border into southern Lebanon. He said many homes in the area would be destroyed, and Lebanese residents would not return.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah has said Lebanese people have \u201cthe right to resist\u201d Israeli occupation and that their actions \u201cwill be determined based on how developments unfold\u201d.<\/p>\n
Israel and Hezbollah have fought several wars and have been fighting on and off since the day after the start of the Gaza war. Israel and Lebanon reached a deal to end that war in November 2024, but Israel has kept up near-daily strikes in what it says is an effort to prevent the Iran-backed militant group from regrouping. That escalated into another invasion after Hezbollah again began firing missiles at Israel in response to its war on Iran.<\/p>\n
Regional officials report progress in talks<\/p>\n
![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/president-donald-trump-speaks-outside-the-oval-office-of-the-7DGOL5YP4ZBSXGFP7CWSAGMXSU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump speaks outside the Oval Office of the White House. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Regional officials told The Associated Press that the United States and Iran had an \u201cin-principle agreement\u201d to extend the ceasefire to allow for more diplomacy. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.<\/p>\n
Mediators are pushing for compromise on three main sticking points: Iran\u2019s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.<\/p>\n
Trump on Friday suggested Iran has agreed to hand over its enriched uranium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe USA will get all Nuclear \u2018Dust\u2019, created by our great B2 Bombers \u2014 No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form,\u201d he said in a post. Nuclear dust is the shorthand Trump frequently uses to refer to the highly enriched uranium that is believed to be buried under nuclear sites the US bombed during last year\u2019s 12-day war between Israel and Iran.<\/p>\n
If true, it would be a major concession from Iran and would lock in a key demand of the US to end the conflict. But neither Iran nor countries acting as intermediaries in the conflict have said Tehran has made such an agreement.<\/p>\n
– Additional reporting by 1News <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran said it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but President Donald Trump said the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,5107,43,40,38,41,39,66],"class_list":["post-385637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Prime](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/prime-minister-christopher-luxon-joins-a-call-with-world-lea-6LUQUOIYFBFAVOCU3MRJWPUD5Q.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Displaced](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/displaced-residents-hold-a-hezbollah-flag-as-they-celebrate-H6IB6MMJ25FOVEXTVRV2ONMESQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\n