Europeans and Iran warned that the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah threatened the truce in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
As the focus shifts to negotiations between the United States and Iran, no formal Israeli participation is planned.
Israel says the truce with Iran does not cover Lebanon. But Tehran says it does, and it has threatened to pull out of peace talks unless the bombing stops.
After careening from one diplomatic extreme to another, President Trump finds himself with a fragile deal that is already showing signs of fraying.
On the first day of the pause, Iran fired missiles and launched drones in the region. It said an oil refinery on Lavan Island had been attacked. Israel continued its strikes in Lebanon.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already declared victory over Iran once, in June last year. Few Israelis believe that the goals he set this time will be met, either.
Deadly airstrikes pummeled Lebanon in Israel’s largest bombing wave yet in the monthlong war with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
In a series of Situation Room meetings, President Trump weighed his instincts against the deep concerns of his vice president and a pessimistic intelligence assessment. Here’s the inside story of how he made the fateful decision.
New details from the weeks leading up to the campaign show how President Trump’s alignment with Benjamin Netanyahu and a lack of sustained opposition from his inner circle put the United States on a course to war.
The demand reflects both the U.S. administration’s eagerness to secure a lasting cease-fire in Gaza and its growing impatience with the Palestinian militant group.