RAMALLAH — President Donald Trump announced a three-week extension of the U.S.-brokered truce between Israel and Hezbollah on Thursday following a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese officials at the White House. The truce, agreed to last week, has largely held outside the border area, though fighting continues along the frontier between Lebanon and Israel.
Israel has indicated it plans to occupy a swath of southern Lebanon indefinitely. Hezbollah, which is not an official party to the truce, is demanding that Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon.
The United States and Israel have demanded that Lebanon's government assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah. Before the latest fighting, Beirut tried to enact part of a plan to disarm the group, and Lebanese leaders have acknowledged their limited capacity to do so. Over the past two months, Hezbollah retained the ability to fire thousands of missiles and drones toward northern Israel.
In southern Lebanon, Israeli forces have drawn what they call a "yellow line." Troops have demolished homes they say were used by Hezbollah, prevented people from returning south of the line, and announced strikes on people they say are militants attempting to cross it. Israel previously occupied southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000.
Israeli strikes killed a well-known Lebanese journalist covering southern Lebanon and wounded another reporter. Health officials said Israeli forces fired on an ambulance crew trying to rescue journalist Amal Khalil and forced it to turn back. Israel denied that it targeted journalists or rescue teams.
A separate U.S.-brokered ceasefire reached in October led to the release of the last remaining hostages held by Hamas and has halted major military operations. Jon Alterman, chair of Global Security and Geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, offered a cautionary note on ceasefires in the region.
"Ceasefires can seem comfortable but lock in unsustainable patterns, with one side feeling it has lost the urgency to resolve the underlying conflict," Alterman said.