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While the Israeli military said it will push on with its ground invasion of southern Lebanon, sources told Reuters that Hezbollah has halted its attacks against northern Israel and on Israeli troops.<\/p>\n
Three Lebanese sources close to the group told the news agency that Hezbollah is likely to issue a statement outlining its formal position on the US-Iran ceasefire and on Israel\u2019s assertion that Lebanon is not included.<\/p>\n
The Lebanese army, meanwhile, has urged displaced families to delay their return home to the south of the country, warning of ongoing Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a>Israeli military ‘continues fighting and ground operations’ against Hezbollah in Lebanon, IDF says<\/p>\n The Israeli military said it \u201ccontinues fighting and ground operations\u201d in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.<\/p>\n In a statement on social media, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it carried out extensive strikes on launch sites across Iran overnight before halting fighting after the ceasefire was announced.<\/p>\n \u201cIn accordance with political directives, the IDF has contained the fighting in the campaign against Iran and remains on high alert for defence, ready to respond to any violation,\u201d the IDF said.<\/p>\n It added that in Lebanon, \u201cthe IDF continues its combat and ground operations against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>‘Now it\u2019s time for diplomacy, legality and peace’, says Spanish PM Spain\u2019s socialist prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, who has been perhaps the most outspoken western critic of Trump\u2019s war in Iran<\/a>, has issued a blunt reaction to the ceasefire announcement on X, saying his administration \u201cwill not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket\u201d.<\/p>\n He said:<\/p>\n double quotation markCeasefires are always good news – especially if they lead to a just and lasting peace. But this momentary relief cannot make us forget the chaos, the destruction, and the lives lost.<\/p>\n The Spanish government will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.<\/p>\n What\u2019s needed now are diplomacy, international legality, and PEACE.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Analysis: US learns a hard lesson about the folly of war Brett McGurk, a former senior US security official and reluctantly supportive of the conflict, conceded on social media that the ceasefire agreement Trump has signed is not \u201cstatus quo ante bellum\u201d ie the US is now worse off than at the start of this war of choice.<\/p>\n To spell it out, Trump needlessly started a war at the urging of Israel, refused to listen to those experts urging caution, devised a strategy built on a misapprehension of Iran<\/a>, sparked a ruinous regional conflict, caused the death of thousands of civilians, unhinged the world economy, strengthened, for now, the repressive instincts of the Iranian and Russian governments, left America more discredited and isolated, provoked serious questions about the president\u2019s fitness for public office, laid waste to large parts of Iran and Lebanon, including medical research centres, primary schools and universities, did not resolve Iran\u2019s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium or its future nuclear programme, strengthened those in Iran backing possession of a nuclear weapon, and, yes, ensured Iran and Oman still plan to control and toll the strait of Hormuz for the first time.<\/p>\n A return to war will doubtless soon be threatened even before the two-week ceasefire ends, but the use of force in this decades-old conflict has now been test driven and proven the wrong vehicle since it can only achieve its objectives at an inconceivable price.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.55 EDT<\/p>\n In further comments to RNE, Albares has criticised Israel for its continued offensive in Lebanon, saying it was \u201cunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is inconceivable that the bombing continues. This has to stop,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n There has been some confusion over whether the ceasefire announced this morning includes Lebanon. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, indicated Israeli troops would continue fighting there, contradicting an earlier statement from the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>‘Unthinkable escalation has been avoided, but the ceasefire is not yet definitive’, says Spanish foreign minister<\/p>\n While more officials from around the world are issuing statements praising the cessation of hostilities between the US and Iran<\/a>, the Spanish foreign minister, Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares, has erred on the side of caution, saying the ceasefire is \u201conly for two weeks\u201d and that it was too early to determine whether the war was truly over.<\/p>\n Speaking to the Spanish radio station RNE, he said the world came \u201cperilously close to disaster\u201d after US president Donald Trump<\/a> threatened to wipe out Iranian civilisation in his ultimatum to Tehran.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the leader of a military superpower makes such threats, I take them seriously,\u201d Albares said.<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cWe are talking about something unthinkable for humanity and which would have led to an unthinkable escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n While acknowledging the ceasefire announcement brings \u201ca day of hope and joy\u201d he cautioned that \u201cit\u2019s only two weeks, not a long time, and the two sides are far apart\u201d.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cWe\u2019re still far from achieving what we want. The ceasefire is a necessary step, but not a definitive one.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Jet fuel supplies ‘will take months’ to recover, says IATA chief<\/p>\n It will take months for jet fuel supplies and prices to return to normal even after the strait of Hormuz reopens due to the disruptions to refineries in the Middle East, said Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters in Singapore, he said that it was difficult to say how long fuel supplies would take to recover, but that \u201cit\u2019s not going to happen quickly\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will still take a period of months to get back to where supply needs to be given the disruption to the refining capacity in the Middle East,\u201d he said, according to the AFP news agency.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to happen in weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Anwar Gargash, the UAE\u2019s senior diplomatic envoy, said his country has triumphed in the war following the announcement of a US-Iran ceasefire.<\/p>\n Writing in Arabic, a translation of his post on X reads:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe UAE emerged victorious from a war we had sincerely sought to avoid, and we triumphed through an epic national defence that safeguarded our sovereignty and dignity and protected our achievements in the face of brutal aggression. Today, we are poised to navigate a complex regional landscape with greater experience, deeper insight, and a more robust capacity to influence and shape the future.<\/p>\n Our strength, resilience and steadfastness have reinforced the UAE\u2019s model of renaissance.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> As news of a ceasefire with Iran<\/a> broke, it was unclear whether the halt in fighting would extend to Lebanon, the second front of the war, where Israel\u2019s fight against Hezbollah has killed more than 1,500 people, many of them civilians.<\/p>\n Conflicting statements came from Iran and mediator Pakistan, both of which insisted any ceasefire would include an end to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, and Israel, whose prime minister plainly stated a ceasefire would not include Lebanon. The US had yet to weigh in. Israel had previously said that it would redouble its focus on the Lebanese front once fighting in Iran ended.<\/p>\n Israel continued striking Lebanon into the morning, pounding the south with artillery fire and carrying out two separate drone strikes on the town of Qana and al-Qaleileh. An hour before the Iran ceasefire was announced, Israel bombed a car in front of a row of beach-side cafes in Saida, killing eight people and wounding 22, according to the Lebanese ministry of health.<\/p>\n First responders and people gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a vehicle in Saida, Lebanon. Photograph: Mahmoud Zayyat\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Despite the lack of a ceasefire on the ground in Lebanon, the highways leading to the south of the country were choked with traffic as dawn broke. Residents were attempting to return to their homes in south Lebanon, but Hezbollah, in a statement, urged people. not to return to certain villages across the border due to the continuing presence of Israeli troops there. Israel\u2019s military spokesperson also issued a renewed evacuation order for the city of Tyre, in south Lebanon.<\/p>\n WhatsApp chats were filled with anxious and hopeful messages between people in Lebanon as they tried to parse whether or not the country would be included in the Iran ceasefire. The almost five weeks of war in Lebanon has brought the country to its breaking point, with more than 1.1 million people forcibly displaced, many of whom are living on the streets.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Keir Starmer says ceasefire ‘will bring a moment of relief to the region and the world’ as he heads to the Middle East<\/p>\n UK prime minister Keir Starmer has joined a chorus of world leaders welcoming the announcement of a ceasefire between Iran<\/a> and the US.<\/p>\n \u201cI welcome the ceasefire agreement reached overnight, which will bring a moment of relief to the region and the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cTogether with our partners we must do all we can to support and sustain this ceasefire, turn it into a lasting agreement and reopen the strait of Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n Starmer is travelling to the Middle East today to meet Gulf leaders to \u201cdiscuss diplomatic efforts to support and uphold the ceasefire\u201d, No 10 said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.40 EDT<\/p>\n Interim summary<\/p>\n For those of you just joining us, here\u2019s where things stand in the Middle East after a dramatic day.<\/p>\n The US and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire, barely an hour before Donald Trump\u2019s Wednesday deadline to obliterate the country and its infrastructure.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council said it had conditionally accepted the two-week ceasefire if attacks against Iran are halted.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s foreign minister said passage through the strait of Hormuz will be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management.<\/p>\n Iranian state media said negotiations with the US would be held in Islamabad to finalise details of an agreement. Talks will begin on Friday 10 April and may be extended, state media reported. State media also reported that talks with the US do not amount to the end of the war.<\/p>\n Pakistan\u2019s prime minister, Shebaz Sharif, announced that Iran, the US and their allies had agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere, including Lebanon, but Israel disputed this, saying fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire. Sharif has been a key figure in attempting to reach a diplomatic solution between the two warring parties.<\/p>\n Trump said Iran had proposed a \u201cworkable\u201d 10-point peace plan. According to Iranian state media, the proposal includes a number of conditions that the US has in the past rejected, among them controlled transit through the strait of Hormuz coordinated with Iranian armed forces and the withdrawal of all US forces from regional bases. The plan would also require the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions, payment of full compensation to Iran and release of all frozen Iranian assets.<\/p>\n Even as the ceasefire was proposed, missile alerts continued in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Israel.<\/p>\n Countries around the world have welcomed the tentative ceasefire. Australia\u2019s PM, Anthony Albanese, welcomed the \u201cvery positive\u201d developments but issued a rare rebuke of Trump\u2019s \u201cextraordinary\u201d language beforehand. South Korea, Japan and New Zealand were among the other nations to welcome the news.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Ceasefire a ‘political disaster’ says Israel’s opposition leader<\/p>\n Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has offered up his reflections on the last few hours of diplomacy and said \u201cthere has never been such a political disaster in all of our history.\u201d<\/p>\n Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, has said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u201cfailed politically, failed strategically, and didn\u2019t meet a single one of the goals that he himself set.\u201d<\/p>\n double quotation markIt will take us years to repair the political and strategic damage that Netanyahu wrought due to arrogance, negligence, and a lack of strategic planning.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Analysis: US power has been severely diminished<\/p>\n The likely biggest consequences are the ones most difficult to assess. But it seems clear that the despite a bellicose assertion of US military power under Trump and his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, US power has been severely diminished by an illegal adventure with ill-defined war aims.<\/p>\n![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Sam_Jones.png\")
Sam Jones<\/p>\n![\"Patrick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Patrick-Wintour,-R.png\")
Patrick Wintour<\/p>\n![\"William](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/William_Christou_v2.png\")
William Christou<\/p>\n![\"Peter](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Peter_Beaumont,_L.png\")
Peter Beaumont<\/p>\n