Lebanon ceasefire extended by 3 weeks, Trump declares after Lebanon-Israel summit in White House

The ceasefire in Lebanon has been extended by three weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump declared after hosting the second round of direct Israel-Lebanon talks in the White House in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump said that he, “Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, and Ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, met today with High Ranking Representatives of Israel and Lebanon in the Oval Office. The Meeting went very well!”

“The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah. The Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS.”

🚨 "The Meeting went very well! The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah. The Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS." - President Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/OUyewZJKmT

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 23, 2026

Trump’s declaration came amid a significant spike of ceasefire violations by Hezbollah, whose representative in the parliament had threatened to attack “Haifa, Tel Aviv, and beyond” if the ceasefire would not be extended.

“Our response will be according to the following principle: if Israel attacks from Lebanese territory, we will strike it back within Lebanon; and if it attacks from Israeli territory – we will strike its territory,” vowed Mahmoud Qemati.

The IDF says it struck and killed three Hezbollah operatives who fired an anti-aircraft missile at an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon earlier today.

According to the military, the attempt to shoot down the drone was unsuccessful.

In a separate incident, the IDF says… pic.twitter.com/ws65kdaobK

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 23, 2026

On Thursday, Hezbollah unsuccessfully fired a surface-to-air missile toward an Israeli aircraft, wounded an IDF soldier with a drone strike, and tried to target an IDF unit near Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, claiming six attacks overall and at least 11 this week.

After responding to these attacks by striking Hezbollah targets, the IDF said in a statement that it “will continue to act decisively against threats… in accordance with directives from the political echelon,” causing Army Radio’s military correspondent, Doron Kadosh, to note: “it is being hinted that the reason for the restrained response to Hezbollah’s violations is ‘instructions from the political leadership’ – namely Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz.”

President Donald J. Trump provides an update on the ceasefire meeting between Israel and Lebanon. https://t.co/vDaVfrgchB pic.twitter.com/73V41K2Wwl

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 23, 2026

Last week, Trump had stated that “Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the USA. Enough is enough.” After the talks on Thursday, the Ambassador Issa said in an interview that Trump “asked Israel not to harm civilians and journalists, and that both sides were requested to stop violating the ceasefire agreement.”

Trump told reporters that “Israel is going to have to defend itself if they are shot at… but they’re going to do it carefully, and they’ll be surgical.”

Meanwhile, Israeli representatives continued to characterize the talks as being aimed toward a peace agreement after the disarmament of Hezbollah, while the Lebanese side avoided any mention of both topics and continued to demand a ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.

Trump said he looked forward to hosting Netanyahu and Lebanese President, Joseph Aoun “in the near future,” later telling reporters he hoped the meeting could take place over the next three weeks.

However, Aoun refused to talk to Netanyahu on the phone last week, and Trump on Thursday expressed astonishment at learning from a reporter that Lebanon has a law banning any contact with Israeli citizens, which the U.S. State Department has reportedly been pushing Beirut to cancel.

A second productive round of talks with Lebanon’s Ambassador @NadaHamadeh today, hosted by President @realDonaldTrump, with @JDVance, @marcorubio @GovMikeHuckabee and Ambassador Michel Issa.

Our goals remain clear: peace, prosperity, and security for our citizens from Iran and… pic.twitter.com/QeQ1gAOc0D

— Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter (@yechielleiter) April 24, 2026

“I never heard of that, but… I’m pretty sure that’ll be ended very quickly,” Trump said, “I know Lebanon doesn’t want that… That’s crazy.“

In the public portion of the meeting, Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad only thanked Trump for “presiding over this historic moment,” adding, “with your support, we can make Lebanon great again.”

Ahead of the meeting, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam reiterated that Beirut wouldn’t sign an agreement that does not include a “full withdrawal” of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon.

“We cannot live with a so-called buffer zone,” he told the Washingtong Post, “an Israeli presence where Lebanese displaced people are not allowed to return, where destroyed villages and towns cannot be rebuilt.”

He also asserted that his government had made “bold decisions” to disarm Hezbollah but added, “disarmament is a process; it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight.”

“But what’s more important is that we have shown seriousness,” he continued.

Salam said that “the only way to do it is to strengthen the army,” noting he has urged partners in Washington and Paris to continue to strengthen the under-funded Lebanese Armed Forces, many of whose officers, including generals, are reportedly affiliated or on the pay-roll of Hezbollah.

Israel's Ambassador to the United States @yechielleiter: "We hope that together, under your leadership, we can formalize peace between Israel and Lebanon in the very near future." pic.twitter.com/BIkUphdzcN

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 23, 2026

Israeli and U.S. officials continued to emphasize the centrality of Hezbollah to the conflict in Lebanon.

Israeli Ambassador, Yechiel Leiter warned that “to put the emphasis repeatedly in our talks on Israeli withdrawal, is to fall into the trap once again of putting the emphasis in the wrong place… if, on the other hand, we put the focus on the root problem, Hezbollah, and its murderous intentions with regard to Israel, I have no doubt that we will succeed in eliminating the Hezbollah menace and achieving peace between our two countries.”

“As long as the threat to Israeli citizens persists, our forward positions must remain,” he stressed, “Lebanon has not met its obligations to dismantle terror infrastructures, as demonstrated in the repeated attacks against Israel launched from the south Lebanon area in recent weeks.”

“Israel wants peace with Lebanon and Israel wants security for its citizens,” Leiter emphasized. “We’re united with the Lebanese government in wanting to rid the country of this malign influence called Hezbollah.”

Ambassador Huckabee likened the terror group to a “rough little kid living in the neighborhood who keeps throwing rocks at everybody’s window… if the kid will quit throwing rocks, the neighbors can get along and start actually working together.”