Trump announces three-week extension of truce in Lebanon
Opinion (with AFP)
Washington – Donald Trump announced Thursday a three-week extension of the ceasefire in Lebanon, at a time when efforts to reach an agreement with Iran are at a standstill. “The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS,” wrote the American president on his Truth Social platform following a new meeting between representatives of the two countries in Washington. In force since April 17, the truce which was initially due to end on Sunday offered a certain respite to the Lebanese population, in a conflict which has already left more than 2,400 dead and a million displaced in the country since the beginning of March. Donald Trump assured that the United States “will work with Lebanon to help it protect itself against Hezbollah.” The Shiite organization, which dragged the country into war on March 2 in support of its Iranian ally, rejected these talks and continues its operations in southern Lebanon, where Israel intends to create a buffer zone at the cost of destroying villages and bombings, which killed two Lebanese journalists on Wednesday. Hezbollah announced that it had fired rockets into northern Israel in response to “violations” of the ceasefire by the Israeli army. “All the time in the world” Despite everything, Mr. Trump said he expected Israeli leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese Joseph Aoun to meet “in the coming weeks.” The Lebanese president, who has until now ruled out the prospect of such a meeting, is expected at the European summit on Friday of Ayia Napa, in Cyprus, alongside his Egyptian counterparts Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Syrian Ahmed al-Chareh and the Crown Prince of Jordan Hussein ben Abdallah made it known that they intended to discuss “the situation in Lebanon and the talks between Israel and Lebanon”. and maintain an “intensive dialogue” with the States of the region Nearly two months after its launch on February 28 by Israel and the United States, the war against Iran continues to weigh on the energy markets and on the world economy, despite this. the entry into force of a ceasefire on April 8 Traffic is at a standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) transited before the conflict, and is now subject to a double blockade by Iran and American. Friday morning, oil prices rose further in Asia, with WTI at more than 97 dollars and Brent from the North Sea at almost 107 dollars. time of the world, but this is not the case for Iran,” he wrote Thursday on Truth Social. Third aircraft carrier Washington is maintaining military pressure, with the arrival in the region of a third aircraft carrier, the George HW Bush. Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said he was only waiting for the green light from the. United States to resume strikes. Donald Trump, however, assured that he did not intend to use nuclear weapons against Iran, whose civilization he had threatened at the beginning of April to “extinguish” civilization. “Why would I use nuclear weapons when we have completely wiped them out, in a very conventional way?” he said in response to a reporter’s question at the White House. A first session of Iranian-American discussions in Pakistan on April 11 ended in failure. Mr. Trump cited “divisions” within power in Tehran to explain the sine die postponement of a second round which had been planned for this week. In response, the Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and the head of the judiciary Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei gave a pledge of unity on Thursday, speaking on their social networks of “one God, one nation, one leader, one path”. While the new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared publicly since succeeding his father Ali Khamenei — killed in the early hours of the war — the New York Times said Thursday, citing Iranian officials on condition of anonymity, that he had been “seriously injured”, including burns to the face, but remained “alive and active”. AFP offices in Washington, Beirut, Jerusalem and Tehran © Agence France-Presse
