Lebanese President Announces Ceasefire, Hezbollah Refuses

According to Breitbart News, Hezbollah further demanded the return of displaced residents, reconstruction efforts, and the release of Lebanese prisoners as essential conditions for any future agreement, effectively scuttling the diplomatic initiative.

Last Chance Rejected

Aoun characterized the agreement as the last opportunity to enter into a final, comprehensive ceasefire, warning that each party bears responsibility for choosing to reject the chance for peace. The Lebanese president said the deal was designed to take effect within 24 hours and would be guaranteed by the United States, which hosted discussions in Washington.

Israel provisionally accepted the deal, which would have created pilot zones controlled by the Lebanese armed forces, to the exclusion of all non-state actors. The compromise was intended to satisfy Israel’s legitimate security needs without requiring Israel to annex a sizable portion of Lebanese territory to ensure that Hezbollah weapons could not threaten Israeli civilians.

However, Israel’s acceptance was contingent on a complete cessation of fire by Hezbollah. Within hours of Aoun’s announcement, air-raid sirens were sounding once again in northern Israel as Hezbollah missiles rained down on Israeli territory.

Israel Refuses Withdrawal

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced shortly thereafter that Israel would not be withdrawing its forces from Lebanese territory, and would continue to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area. Katz said this would require Lebanese civilians to stay away from the areas occupied by Israel.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam indicated Thursday that the Lebanese Army would still begin deploying to the pilot zones, as envisioned by the first phase of the agreement Hezbollah rejected. It remained unclear what these pilot zone forces would do if they encountered resistance from Hezbollah.

Violence Continues

Israel conducted further airstrikes in Southern Lebanon on Thursday, while Hezbollah said it was continuing to counterattack Israeli troops around the strategic Beaufort Castle. Israel announced Thursday afternoon that one of its soldiers, 21-year-old Capt. Eitan Shmuel Lemberg, fell in combat after Hezbollah attacked an Israeli tank with a missile.

Hezbollah’s patrons in Iran weighed in by seconding the Lebanese terror group’s demand for all Israeli forces to withdraw as a precondition for a truce, and by repeating its position that no ceasefire between the United States and Iran would be possible until Israel withdraws from Lebanon.

Esmail Qaani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force division, which handles foreign operations and subversion, said the minimum demand of the resistance is the withdrawal of Israel to the position it held before the start of the 40-day war. Qaani added that supporting the resistance in Lebanon is the duty of all, and removing Israel from the region is an attainable goal for Muslims.

UN Peacekeeper Killed

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement Thursday condemning the killing of a Serbian peacekeeper, Sgt. Milovan Jovanivic, when mortar fire struck his position in southeastern Lebanon, as Breitbart News reports.

Guterres noted that seven peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL have now been killed since the escalation in hostilities since March 2, 2026, with several more wounded. He insisted that all attacks on peacekeepers must be promptly investigated, and those responsible must be effectively prosecuted and held accountable.

Guterres expressed his support for the truce deal negotiated in Washington, and called on Hezbollah to begin respecting the Lebanese government’s authority and its exclusive control over weapons, as well as calling on Israel to withdraw its troops.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said that deliberate attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law, as well as UN Security Council resolutions, and may amount to war crimes. UNIFIL said it was not clear who fired the mortar round that killed the peacekeeper, but it was apparently launched from north of the Litani River, the boundary between north and south Lebanon that Israeli troops only recently crossed.

With information from Breitbart News